MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY

A nap is NOT going to happen but here are some pictures from the day. We all passed up the Sam's Club cookies when I suggested we have home-made ice cream at home instead. I'm always so pleasantly surprised when Zander passes up a former favorite for a healthy treat without a fuss. He is even starting to accept the answer "that food makes it hard for you to be good" and he told me the other day "oh - it makes me feel sick" so I think he's starting to make connections himself. If we can only keep him from the cookie dough....an overdose of sugar (even honey) would not be good for any of us. LOL

Our older children kept commenting that they didn't remember other communities doing this...and we've been where they have but this was by far the most impressive...though Great Falls, MT came close. We discussed it and noted that the smaller cities seem to put on the bigger celebrations. {G}

Nolan's 2nd time on a pony

Arielle dreams of owning a horse...wish we could make it happen for her...but for now...pony rides are great fun!

Jamin on the rock climbing wallJared on the wall"I can do ANYTHING the boys can do"Nolan on the wallAnd of course if the BIG boys do it....Zander convinced the lady he was big enough...he was by far the youngest on the wall while we were there

This is hard to explain. A Bungiey cord is hooked to a harness that they wear. They race up to grab a baton and then the cord pulls them back. It was hilarious to watch. Again...Zander had to give it a shot. We have some great shots of him with the helmet 1/2 off and such. He finally got it...but the lady really was rooting for him {wink}.

Jared at the bungie race- look at that determined expression

Thoughts that have made me go HMMMM……

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about. WHY do wonderful Bible teachers sometimes feel the need to take Scriptures out of context to prove a “point”? I’ve run into this three times this week and frankly it is discouraging. I’m doing two studies and both very Godly women have done this. I went to read the study notes in my Bible on one of the passages and found that the commentator had done the SAME thing!

It takes more than doing a word study to “accurately handle the Word of Truth”. You MUST look at context. You must consider what the whole Word of God has to say about the topic. You must admit if something is used literally or figuratively. You must not torture Scripture. All Scripture must agree. Scripture does not contradict Scripture. I’m sad to run into this THREE times this week from trusted teachers/leaders.

I actually agree with most the points being made by the authors – I think – but they really begin to cloud the issue for me when they begin to fling Scriptures at me without considering context. I have a hard time hearing the message or wanting to even continue the study when a teacher does this. The Word does say that teacher’s will receive a stricter judgment…..it’s not a good idea to try to strengthen an argument with less than accurate handling of the Word. I suppose it’s my ministry within a chapel setting that has led me to present both sides of an argument as fairly as possible and trust the Holy Spirit to apply the Word exactly as needed. I don’t know.

It’s ironic that one of the studies had these quotes in it – great quotes – right before she went on to present one side of an argument. Is it deceptive for a teacher who knows both sides of an argument to only argue her side strongly and not present the verses that would weaken her argument? Oh well – I ran into this with this author with some of the more Calvinistic doctrines. It’s really OK not to agree with everything an “expert” teaches…maybe some days “my eyes will be open” and I’ll agree with her…..maybe some day her eyes will be opened…and most likely all of our attempts to “get theology” right are amiss…God has all the pieces of the puzzle and knows exactly how they fit together…we’ll probably get a good chuckle or a sob when we see how all these “hard doctrines” mesh in heaven….I’m betting that NO camp has it all sewn up. It just bothered me to read strong comments without any balance in the study, go to my Bible and find that the commentator there had done the SAME thing on the OPPOSITE side of the issue…and combined with the other study that is throwing verses totally out of context to support a viewpoint….it really was to much this a.m.

Here’s the challenge – a great challenge: “Where does your theology come from? Do you believe because of men’s teachings and experiences or because you have dug out truth from God’s Word yourself, precept upon precept? {snort – hint hint} We forget that no one person has a corner on all the truth. Therefore, we need to be like the Bereans who, after the apostle Paul taught, searched the Scriptures to see whether or not what he taught was in keeping with the Word”.

We simply MUST be women of the Word.

Ah – it all throws me back at His feet. It all causes me to abide in Him and to allow His words to abide in me.

As for teaching…well often if one articulate person voices her opinion strongly it will drive those who think differently to remain silent. I’m blessed that in my classes ladies will speak up and disagree with the author and challenge each other to consider all sides. Really – this is better. I’d rather have the questions out in the open than buried…so I’ll consider to point out questions if no one else has the nerve to voice their opposition…and the Holy Spirit is so faithful to guide us each to truth.

I had begun to feel that my reading this year has been “light” and I needed to add some “meat”….now I’m not sure WHY I thought that because life is “heavy” enough and I’ve been doing several studies at a time all year so really light reading is my relaxation. We don’t do TV and Mike’s been working late hours….but anyway….after reading *Captivating* and *What the Bible Has to Say about Healthy Living*, I decided to reward myself with some light reading.

Play it Again Spam ~ Tamar Myers

I was a bit leery of Magdalena after *Between a Wok and a Hard place* but I’m firmly back on her side with this book. {G}

The idea of including so many spam recipes had me laughing and reminiscing all through the book. I can remember the packages from “home” when we were on the mission field - with SPAM in them….I guess folks figured we didn’t have meat in Africa or the Philippines. I suspect that Tamar must be reliving some of her missionary kids days in writing this book. {g}

Of course, nothing is as funny as my grams landing overseas with a frozen turkey in her suitcase…and we didn’t get turkey overseas so it was a treat!

I love reading these Penn Dutch Inn books. Somehow a Mennonite Inn Keeper in an Amish community who solves mysteries seems very believable to me. Just in case you’re not interested in mysteries maybe the recipes will tempt you to pick up this book: Spam Jambalaya, Spam Western Bean Soup, Hearty Spam Breakfast Skillet, Spam Stuffed Potatoes Florentine, Sinapore Spam Salad, and Ragin Cajun Spam Party Salad. Come to think of it this book would have been welcome back in the days when we had cases of Spam in the house. {vbg} I can post any recipe that catches your fancy. :::snort:::

The Hand that Rocks the Ladle ~Tamar Myers

I simply couldn’t resist picking up another one of these. I love the fact that my kids bought me this series for Christmas. It’s the gift that keeps thrilling all through the year.

Ah…Little Jonathan, Little Mose and Little Freni make their debut here. Magdalena manages to solve a mystery, begin a new romance and run an inn single handedly in this book.

Heaven’s Wager by Ted Dekker

Thanks to Jen from MO for sending this book my way. I’ve not read the Christian Suspense genre in years and so am getting my feet wet again. In fact this is my second one this year. I knew I was in for something good when I saw this comment by Frank Peretti on the cover, “A fiction writer with a rare knack for a compelling story…a provocative read.”

I DID find this to be a provocative read. I don’t want to give away a plot line so really can’t say much but it kept me turning the pages. The author gives us a glimpse into what may be going on “behind the scenes” in various situations. This reads like a modern day Job story. I liked it so well that Josiah decided to read it and is just finishing it up. In fact – it was so great that we checked to see if the library had the other two books in the series. They didn’t. I waited for Paperback Swap to come up with them and they haven’t – so I ordered the next two books so that we can read them. {G} Though….I was sent another Ted Dekker book. Yippee.

An Offer: This is a book crossing book. That means that Jen would like to trace where the book goes. I plan to go journal and will see if Josiah could journal too….then we’d like to send the book along to someone else. If you would like to read this book, please email me or comment below and I’ll get it to you. I only ask that you go to bookcrossing.com and enter the fact that you read the book and where you sent it off to next. It’s really easy. Directions are included in the book and at the site.

A Question for those who’ve read the series: There is a new book out called “The Martyr’s Song”. It is the most recent book. It seems to just retell the story of the soldiers in Bosnia. I’ve heard that that is basically what the book does…a story which is told well in book 2 of the series I hear. The publisher says that all the books stand alone…but to read *The Martyrs Song* first….but on book lists I’m hearing that TMS is a let down. That the story is more powerful in *When Heaven Weeps*…care to opine?

Saturday – 20 May 2006

I really need to go take a nap (as I’m still not getting much sleep at night) but I’ll blog first and sleep later. Surely Stacia will sleep a bit longer. ONE of her teeth is through.

My day began this a.m. with our DOG bringing me a dead bird. I’ve always thought she had quite a bit of bird dog in her – she points – but this was ridiculous. She just did it again. YUCK. We’ve tried for YEARS to teach her tricks, to get her to fetch etc and nothing…now in her dotage she’s fetching birds.

Today our community hosted the first annual “military appreciation day”. It was awesome. It was held out at the lake. They did a fabulous job. They had those jumpy things, pony rides, balloons, tattoos, boat rides, food, rock climbing and more. I’ll try to upload some pictures later. It was a very fun day. Today is supposed to be over 101* - and I believe it made it – so we went early so that we’d not have to be out in the heat of the day.

After leaving the lake we dropped Jamin off to do another yard. He’s determined. He’ll be calling Town and Country’s offices on Monday to get permission for the three kids to pump gas and wash windows for donations towards their mission trip. The mower broke three times on Jamin. Poor kid. He did get one yard done and he “sorted glass” for another lady. UGH. She has no grass but lots of rocks and glass and wanted it sorted…took much longer than a yard to do and she paid much less. She said she’ll call him again. He plans to tell her an hourly rate or no.

While Jamin toiled in the sun…and Josiah toiled at Chick-fil-A, the rest of us went to check out a campground we’d heard of. We decided it wasn’t very promising. On the way back home we stopped and looked at trailers. We’re dreaming. We did find one that would sleep ALL of us….It’s the 31RQS here scroll to the bottom of the page for the floor plan. It has an outside kitchen, tons of storage ….lots and lots of storage…a room in the back with 4 bunks, a loveseat that will make into a bed, a dinette that makes into a bed and a double bed “suite”. It also has a TOILET! It’s only $15K over our budget – it will be a while before we purchase it…but now we know that trailer exist that can sleep all of us. As we were getting ready to leave we noticed that Zander disappeared. We thought he had run ahead to the van. We reached the van and he was not with the kids. Mike began searching. They finally found him. He’d locked himself in a trailer. The trailer hadn’t even been open so no one knows HOW he got in there. He was hot when he was found…..he said, “I know where I am”….He’s discovered hiding this week and this is the second time we’ve thought he was really, really gone and he was hiding. All of our kids seem to go through this “hiding” phase.

Mike will be explaining the changes coming to the chapel in June at all three services tomorrow. He’s preaching in two of the services, so he’s at the office “marinating” and preparing.

Blog Comment Response - Our Family Fun

**Micaela has informed me that Zander is her favorite boy now and he would make a great daddy, except she had to keep telling him not to run with the baby. **

:::snort::: You don't know how thrilled this makes me. Ladies, before Zander had left the impression that he was a "rude boy".....and he CAN be. Arielle is always trying to get him to leave her dolls alone. This is a good night to read a comment about Zander that is positive. LOL

We did enjoy your little ones. Arielle enjoyed a little girl around. {G}

It's been a very long week. I'm hoping for a good night of sleep tonight but doubting it will happen.

Not only is Stacia teething but Zander has almost certainly gotten into something....he hasn't slept in 3 nights. This is night 4. Mike says he's better tonight...I guess. I think I've been too close to the situation today to notice if things are improving. At times I wonder if I'm "excusing" bad behavior....but he's held accountable for his actions. We simply are doing all we can to make it easier for him to be obedient. Really, I consider his diet to be part of "discipline" for him. I often think of the verse "Train up a child in the way he should go...." and when you study that out it means "train up a child according to his natural bent"...certainly that would include his personality, spiritual gifts, life dreams...but I think for Zander this food sensitivitiy is part of his natural bent.....training that does train him..... The last few days are more than "bad behavior". He's like Jekyl and Hyde. His personality changes dramatically. We were at the lake with friends and he was totally apart from everyone for several hours. Totally anti-social. Yes, there's the melt downs when you try to discuss ANYTHING with him. He begins to say agressive things. He can't look you in the eye. He doesn't want to wear clothes. He doesn't sleep.....it's really much more than "bad behavior" that a child could/should control. The frustrating thing is that we can't think of ANYTHING different that he has eaten. The only thing I can think of is that I make fresh cookies for him.....this time I froze a lot of dough. He loves the dough. He'll eat 2 or 3 cookies and leave them alone....but I've found him several times this week eating lots of cookie dough...it's now all gone. I don't know WHY it would affect him in the dough form and not baked....but I'm wondering if it's a huge over dose of sucanat this week. I just don't know...but I know a God who loves this little one even more than we do.

Stacia is all stuffed up. We used the blue sucky monster to try to clear her nose. One tooth is really going to be through "soon"....gum is splitting.

I literally slept an hour last night...so why am I writing? It relaxes me. {G}

Other than the nature center we had speech today and then I had a big meeting at the base chapel. This was a meeting with both the Catholics and Protestant lay leader teams for Fr. Jim and Mike to explain the changes the Air Force has recently made. We're loosing 30% of our chaplains/enlisted staff. Our maj com has also decided to cut out ALL approrpiated funds for the chapels in AETC...this means all contracts for things like musicians and sunday school directors is gone. It was a sober meeting...but I also sensed a determination to "make it work".

I came home and went on a walk with Arielle, Nolan, Zander and Jamin. Jamin has been doing lawns to earn money for the AK missions trip. I'm so proud of the boys...they are going to try to earn the $900 for their fare up and the $400 for the trip....they have a couple of fund raising ideas.

I'm very sore. The 8 minute moves this a.m. consisted of 48 lunges per leg and some sort of lift that I thought was supposed to work on the back of my thighs but seems to have worked on the tush...because I can barely move. I don't even know if I can ride the bike in the a.m.

OK I'm relaxed and it's time to get a nap in before Stacia wakes up and can't breath or Zander needs some cuddling....he gets bad dreams when he's off the diet. I really need to quit disbelieving that this food thing is so important to him...it is.