Gospel Coalition's Women's Conference

If you, like me, wanted to go to the Gospel Coalition's Women's Conference Here Is Our God, but weren't able to, you'll be happy to hear that the Gospel Project is live streaming everything on the main stage from now thru Sunday here.

Pirates of the Sink

Green Eggs

Making Puppets

Our schedule this summer is slower paced, but William's brain has not slowed down.  As a result, we've been dealing with more behavior issues than usual- one day he decorated three rooms in green paint, one day he spread snow salt on the backyard, then yesterday he decorated the bathroom with sunscreen.  So, I was relieved and pleased when he found an old craft kit and got inspired to make puppets.  He and Lily worked on them all morning.  The puppet show never really materialized, but they had fun making them.

Resting

This is the closest Lily gets to snuggling with Bingley.

A Fun Father's Day

Grandma and Grandpa B joined us for Father's Day.  It was a beautiful day.  My dear husband grilled even though it was his day- of course he loves grilled food, so it wasn't too big of a sacrifice.  He had been on a personal retreat the day before, so the kids had been anticipating the event since Friday, and were super excited.  Simple, sweet fun.

Quotable Friend

In a conversation about the incarnation, my friend Meghan B said, "I think it's funny when God does things that seem sacrilegious."

Instant Indian

Funny food story: last week I was hurrying through Aldi and didn't realize that they had cayenne pepper hummus instead of red pepper hummus until we got home.  Lily was determined to try it- a short and memorable experience.  Of course, I didn't want it to go to waste, so I've tried to use it in different ways.  It's pretty much an instant Indian-ifier to any rice dish.

Music for Little Mozarts

Now that the kids know their numbers and letters, I'm excited to start teaching them piano.  We're using Music for Little Mozarts.  I really like it's slow pace and fun approach.  All three kids enjoy doing the motions to the songs and making Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear dance on the piano keys.

Teamwork

Not to give the wrong impression, this was a special moment, which is why I took a picture of it.

Safety Town

First Ice Cream Cone

Lemonade Stand

About a month ago on a hot day, some neighbor girls had a lemonade stand.  Ever since then, Lily's been begging to do one.  So last week we tried it.  I was amazed at the money we made in less than two hours time!  First we said the lemonade was free, but the people gave us too much money (as much as $5/cup).  So then we asked for 25 cents a cup, and they only gave us $1/cup.  Do not underestimate the economic pull of cute kids!!

Staying in the Center of Biblical Tension

One of the great concepts I learned at Columbia Bible College was the importance of "staying in the center of biblical tension."  In other words, we need to be careful not to take truths farther than the Bible takes them; we need to keep different biblical truths in balance with each other.  I have thought about that a lot over the years.  Recently, it's come to mind with the different conversations going on in Sovereign Grace Ministries. 

Whatever giving elders honor (1 Tim. 5:17) and making their job a joy (Heb 13:17) mean, they need to be held in balance with the truth that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23)as well as Jesus' teaching to not call anyone but God our teacher and father (Mt. 23:9).

Whatever making charitable judgments and walking in humility looks like, it cannot mean naivety since Jesus told his disciples to be shrewd as serpents and harmess as doves (Mt 10:16).

Sir Toppam Hatt

Great Talks

Two series that have encouraged me lately:

Josh Harris' Sunday mornings sermon series Never Give Up and Sharon James' biographical talks from Covenant Life's recent women's conference.

Visiting the Farm

We completed the homeschool year with a unit on farming, so last week we visited a farm.  Since school was out, we were able to take Jessica with us, which made it extra fun.  The kids got to milk a cow, see a horse get new shoed, pet a lot of farm animals, and ride a pony.  Lily liked the pony ride best.  William liked the tractor-pulled wagon ride best, although he also really enjoyed petting the pigs.

Miss Grace

 One of our former babysitters is home from college this summer.  She is majoring in special ed, so we're having her do some respite and academic review with William.  All the kids love her!  Last week she came and did some activities at the house.  This week she's taking William to Safety Town (since he got sick last year and wasn't able to attend).  What a blessing!

The Great Campout

As the finale to the last week of school, Jenn came out and joined us for A Day Out with Thomas.  She brought her Jeep and let the kids try out her new roof tent.  It was probably the happiest day of William's life since his fourth birthday party, maybe the best ever.  It's fun to hear him talk about (which he does fairly often.)  His vocabulary has grown so much, but he's still short on verbs.  He'll say, "Mommy!
"Yes, William?"

"Campfire!"

"Are you thinking about the campfire?"

"Yes, campfire!  ...And Aunt Jenn!"

"That was a lot of fun having Aunt Jenn here, huh?"

"And marshmallows!...and Grandma and Grandpa and Lily and Abigail and Daddy and tent!  And Thomas!  And campfire!  And Sir Topham Hatt! and dark out! and marshmallows!!....and Thomas!"

Dear William, happy, happy unbirthday, to you, to you, to you!

Honor and Shame

 

I just finished The Imam's Daughter by Hannah Shaw.  It has given me a lot to think and pray about.  One of the things that really struck me is the way the author described the concepts of honor and shame and how they worked in the community where she grew up.  I've been growing in my concern with the way condemnation is sometimes dealt with in the church- when reassurance and acceptance is given without reference to forgiveness or even to God at all.  As Shaw described the way actual godliness didn't matter as much as the appearance of godliness mattered and actual honor didn't matter as much as the appearance of honor, I had to wonder how different we are as Christians.

As a mom of a special needs kid, I think I have a stronger experience of this dynamic.  William is constantly doing embarrassing things in public.  Things like shouting out random comments, drinking from someone else's water bottle, and greeting random 40 year old ladies with, "Hi, Grandma!"  These things aren't sin, and yet I can feel the temptation be embarrassed and even ashamed.  That shame has nothing to do with God or my relationship to God.  It's not that I feel condemned by God at that moment; it's that I'm not thinking about God at that moment.  I'm thinking about what others think, I'm thinking about how children are suppose to act, I'm wondering what people think I should be doing as a parent to correct my son. 

Don't we all have issues like that?  A dirty house, showing up late at an event, forgetting a friend's birthday, mixing up the names of new people at church.  So embarrassing, but probably not sin.  And even things that are sin- like yelling at our kids or not wanting to serve someone in need or holding a grudge.  Is the reason we're ashamed of them, the reason we beat ourselves up or defend ourselves to others, because it is sin and we feel guilty before God?  Or is it because we're embarrassed about what others think of us?  Does their assurance that we're ok, their general affirmations that there is grace, take the guilty feelings away, soothing our conscience without interacting with our Savior?

There's been a lot of talk in Sovereign Grace circles lately about not being so sin-focused.  Don't get me wrong, I think that's a good thing.  Personally, though, I think that part of the answer is not just to talk about sin less but to learn how to deal with sin more biblically- to discern what really is sin (and what isn't), to learn to feel true conviction (and sometimes that's a process), and then to experience actual forgiveness by God through Jesus Christ.  Real conviction and real forgiveness are part of the process of sanctification that leads to real victory.

Like I said, Hannah Shaw has given me a lot to think about, and this is just one of those things.

Goodbye, Mrs Baker



Mrs Baker decided to retire afterall at the end of this year. 

We will sure miss her!  She has taught us all so much.

I'm still working on the specifics of next year's school for the kids.  I think I will homeschool with a supplemental tutor for William.  William will continue with speech and OT, and will go to the Christian school where I grew up twice a month for extracurriculars and socialization in their Independent Studies Program.  I'm hoping to put Lily in a pre-K program near home a couple days

a week as well.  We'll see.  God has always been so faithful, we know He will provide.

Bike Trailer

We used birthday money to get this bike trailer for Abby. 

Lily loves riding in it too.

Here they are lined up for their first official ride.



Preschool Graduation

Lily was so excited to participate in her preschool graduation program! 

She did a stellar job, singing every word and doing every motion.

She told me her favorite part was eating the cake at the end.

Here she is with her beloved teacher Miss Karen and her best school friend Dana.

We have sure loved our years at this preschool!