Hymn Sing with the Ferrins=BLESSING!!

Sunday was the Hymn Sing I had blogged about a little while back. Annalina did get the song (Arise, My Soul, Arise) memorized and was able to sing it with the others. It sounded great.

Mr. Ferrin LOVED it and wants them to sing again at a Hymn Sing in April at another church. I am going to try to get Gabriel, Ross, and Carson up to speed so they can be apart of it too!

Brian and I got to talk with Mr. Ferrin a fair amount at the fellowship time afterwards and realized we had a lot of similar walkings in life. It was a lot of fun to talk and figure this all out! He went to college in Minneapolis, MN which is near where my dad went to seminary and near where Babe and I were married. He and his wife had a church ministry in San Jose, CA and he was excited that we had just come from Monterey, CA. His dad was a pastor in Lakewood, CO and my dad was assoc. pastor VERY close to there (now we are different generations. They are about my parents age.) Later in life he was pianist at the church where my dad was assoc. pastor (Beth Eden Baptist Church) but way before that time. His dad was part of the conservative Baptist split which would be extremely interesting to my dad since one of his doctorate's is in baptist history (Minnesota though). Mr. Ferrin and his wife were such sweet people and it was fun meeting them.

The service they did was a blessing to Babe and I. What a blessing to just sing and listen to hymns and hear the history! We thoroughly enjoyed our morning of hymns and fellowship. Just what I needed to start out this week.

Do You Need A Reason To Give Thanks?

There are a lot of reasons to be thankful, but really, if there is one thing to focus on on Thanksgiving and all year it is God's son Jesus Christ. Jesus was the ultimate gift. God showed his perfect love for us in sending Him and in the accepting of Jesus death and resurrection (done for our sinfulness) we have HOPE. Hope is something the world knows little of. If you need REAL HOPE and CHANGE this is it. In accepting Jesus you have the HOPE of eternal life in Jesus Christ, an eternal home in heaven. The CHANGE is in your spiritual heart and mind. Christ will renew them.

Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

What Would The Picture Be This Year?

I should be doing school with Rossers but I had a fussy baby this morning that needed extra love. As I was sitting rocking him my thoughts turned to my Uncle Neil who went home to be with Jesus this year. I was sad. No Christmas card from my Uncle Neil. Every year even though his hands were basically paralyzed (actually most of his body) he drew a picture for his Christmas card and it was fun to see what it would be for that year, they were always scenes from rural Wisconsin. I rocked my Jedidiah and cried and wondered what would the picture would have been like this year after seeing heaven and his Saviour and his regaining the mobility in his hands and arms. Too bad we can't get mail from heaven.

I'm happy for you Uncle Neil you're with Jesus probably dancing and praising . . . using legs you haven't been able to use since your youth and breath that comes so easily and naturally now! Love you and miss you. Thankful that your spending Christmas with Jesus.


I called the kids together to tell them my thoughts and that in their quiet moments they could think about what the picture would be. What an amazing thought to ponder.

Crown and Covenant Series

O.K., this is my favorite book series ever. The kids loved them, especially Gabriel!! These books were so amazing that I can not begin to do it justice with my words!! This series is written for 10-14 year old boys and was a historical fiction book about the Covenanters (Presbyterians) in Scotland during the 1600's. It was a period of history I had never heard of before. The Covenanters called it "the killing time". Well, I may have read about the Covenanter martyrs in The Story of Liberty and just not realized that is who they were talking about.

This book chronicles the story of the M'Kethe family and their sincerity and devotedness to King Jesus in a time when the king of England wanted loyalty to him and his pope-ish miserable men that he put in the pulpit. The price of loyalty to King Jesus was torture and death and the book did not shy away from the description of torture and death. Yep, another heart wrenching book!!! but so good. I never cried until the second to the last chapter in the last book and I lost it. There is so much good to say about these books. The Scripture used throughout, the beautiful Psalms, the great family example, the always looking to Scripture for the answers. Beautiful. Rebel's Keep is the end of this series but it paves the way for the next series which they all come to America to escape the persecution . . . Good thing, we will be bummed when these books are done. These books really are for boys . . . or girls that have grown up around boys and have a stiffer inside.

Excerpt: "How to honor the king-and honor the King of kings all at the same go. Figure that out and ye have what Holy Scripture calls sanctification-holiness, without which no man shall see the King in all his glory and splendor on the Great Day. But, God be praised, we aren't left to figure it out on our own. We have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God showing us the way of holiness. But donnae let's go expecting that the way to glory will be trod without suffering, without our being beset on every side by God's enemies." From where Angus's father sat at the trestle table, candlelight now flickered and cast his broad shadow behind him against the stones of the wall. A hush had come over the room, and only Angus's mother continued her knitting, slower now than before. Sandy M'Kethe [the father] reached for his big Bible as he continued. "If our Lord and Redeemer, the author of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering, who are we to go around all surprised at our sufferings. Ours are ordained by a loving heavenly Father that we might learn perseverance, that we might learn to lay our troubles at the all-capable feet of one who promises to bear them all for us."


The only pause in these books was in the first book on page 158 and there speaking on the election of man. It is a bit Calvanistic but that whole topic of election is hard for my mind to grasp it just sounded a bit extreme to me. Other than that the books were great.  Again, they were really graphic and that is NOT an exaggeration of any sort but so packed full of wonderful examples and principles.

Fall Piano Recital-Annalina

We LOVE our piano teacher Mrs. W. She is an amazing Christian lady. She is very soft spoken but uniquely also very direct. She only says what she means. I count her and her husband as one of our blessings in Colorado. They have been blessings to our whole family. You can tell by watching her in the videos she has a grandmotherly way about her as she stands next to the kids during their performance. It is fun to watch the kids play the piano and see how God has blessed them in being able to play at all. We teach the kids that nothing you do that is good is anything but God. They have a lot to learn but both enjoy being able to play music which I am glad about. Sometimes practice time can interfere with playing but for the most part they both really enjoy it. We are thankful for the opportunities the kids have had to use their playing for God's glory in the church. Annalina has played in two churches now and Gabriel will be at that soon too!  I am thankful God uses even little children and their small talents for him and thankful for being located where they are even given the opportunity.

Annalina did a great job on her pieces also and what a thing to be said about you in an introduction that "she is always happy"! She is a sweetheart and loves the Lord and lets her light shine because the joy is from the Lord. Reminds me of Gabriel the other day telling me that if we move to Germany he had a plan for witnessing . . . first become friends with people then he was going to tell them the story of creation, etc. Impressive that his heart had already thought that far ahead! I pray that my children will love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and mind. I don't know their future but my prayer is that it walking closely with Christ.

Fall Piano Recital--Gabriel

Gabers did a great job at his piano recital. He did great even on the song he was concerned about!! He looks so big as I watch this video! He is growing up so fast! I have had trouble with one of Annalina's piano recital videos so hopefully I can get hers posted soon too. Babe and I really enjoyed sitting back and listening to the kids play. They continue to learn so much.

Buried Alive For Christ--Kendrick

When I was growing up my dad used to tell the story "Buried Alive For Christ" to camp children and he did an amazing job of it. It is a gripping true story of great faith in Christ. I wish my kids could have seen him tell it. I decided to get the book to read to them.

The first quarter of the book tells this main story and others that go along with it. I'll be forth right . . . it was hard for me to get through. It is incredibly hard to read but yet so faith building. The rest of the book eases up and has stories dealing with answers to prayer on the mission field and faithfulness of Christ to the missionaries of Africa, and the souls won. All the stories are true from Baptist African missions. It is a great book just a bit gut renching. Hard to read without emotions swelling inside!! What Faith and Love for our Lord these martyrs had. They were truly sold out to Christ.

Jedidiah 7 Months Old Tomorrow!!

Jedidiah is still rapidly changing .  . . sitting up and playing, scooting around and getting into trouble, and up on his hands and knees rocking like he is ready to take off crawling. He is still full of smiles even if you go in the middle of the night to put his pacifier back in. He loves to bounce which is the first kiddo since Gabriel that has enjoyed bouncing so much. He also LOVES biter biscuits probably more than any of the other kiddos.

Annalina's 9th Birthday!!

 It really is hard to believe that Annalina is 9 years old!! She is such sweet and kind daughter. We celebrated her birthday between 2 days because of where we live and time. The first day we went to Olive Garden (her choice) and had a delicious meal and she opened her presents. The second day we had cake and ice cream and she got specially made steak.

My parents sent this cartoon with her birthday gifts. It is SOOOO ANNALINA AND CARSON! 

 I absolutely could not wait for Annalina's birthday this year so we could give her this American Girl doll. She never asked for one but would pour over the catalogs and she and I had looked online and she really like the indian girl "Kaya". I was so glad we were able to get Kaya for her. She was smiling so big she could not have smiled any bigger. Annalina's personality often does not show a lot of emotion concerning gifts but this time she was ecstatic which made it even more fun. She said thank you and that she had "thought about this all the time". It was obviously a dream of hers. I'm glad it came true for her. I am THRILLED! It reminds me of being a little girl and my parents getting a red headed Cabbage Patch Kid the year they were all the rage for Christmas. I also think it interesting that I picked the different red headed doll and Annalina picked the out of the norm indian doll. She and I are very different but we have a few similarities. It was neat also to see the boys so happy for her. Thankful for my kiddos.

 Annalina and her new doll Kaya.

 One Goofy Brother and another Goofy Brother.

 Annalina and Kaya got matching PJ's that are sooo cute!

 Annalina playing Kaya and with the horse Annalina has.

 Birthday cake time. Annalina decide to add red and green sprinkles to it!

The night we were going to have birthday cake Annalina was on the phone with Daddy as he was stopping at Safeway on the way home. She heard him say "One New York Strip please". He told me later he thought he said it quietly enough that she wouldn't hear but she did and she was again ECSTATIC on the phone and told me what she heard daddy say.  He came home and we all waited for cake until the steak had been perfectly prepared by Daddy for Annalina!! Annalina said "Daddy knows just how to make it" and that "New York Strip is my favorite" of course he knew that and she knew he knew it. When we go to Costco the two of them go off together to look at red meat. Of course, Annalina being sweet Annalina, she offered a taste to everyone. Ross sweetly refused it and said he wanted her to have it but she insisted and he got a taste. It was so fun to see Annalina 2 times during her birthday celebrations to be SOOO EXCITED she could hardly stand it.

Arise, My Soul, Arise-Wesley

Annalina was invited to sing in a trio with two other little girls at a hymn sing next Sunday.  Paul and Marjorie Ferrin do these hymn sings nation wide I've been told. I looked up the song they are going to be singing. I love it but am not super familiar with it. I hope I can get her ready for it in time. What a beautiful, beautiful song.
Google    Hymnsing.org or Paul Ferrin and see pictures and read all about the Ferrins
and their bios.

Stories From My Day

This morning Ross and Carson got in a little spat about praying before they ate. Carson said to me that Ross said that "you [Carson] prayed to yourself". Carson annoyed said "I did NOT pray to myself I prayed to God!" Ross meant Carson had prayed on his own not actually to himself. It was pretty cute to see Carson's reaction.


This evening I was in the office looking up some baby gate info. for our very soon to crawl little one! I could hear Gabriel and Annalina talking as they were doing their jobs and they didn't know I was listening. I have some candles that are VERY old and are in the shape of carolers at Christmas. I have one from my childhood and I found another one in amazingly excellent condition at Salvation Army. The sight and smell takes me to my childhood. I was telling the kids about them and talked about the smell reminding me of my childhood. Anyway, they were discussing making me a Christmas card and how they could get the smell of the candle in the card since they knew that was important to me. They discussed rubbing it on the card but weren't sure. Annalina told Gabriel she didn't think it smelled nice. It was so sweet hearing them talk and try to figure out how to make something special for their Mommy.  Hearing all this meant A LOT to me. A LOT. What sweet kiddos I have.

 This afternoon Ross didn't want me to come in a room because he was making something for me. He came later to me and asked "What day is today?" I told him it was Thursday. He told me that he decided that every Thursday he was going to make me a craft. To sweet. He has started writing me the I Love Mommy notes which I just love. The other day we were doing school together and he told me that "the reason I can read so well at school [homeschooling group on Wednesday] is because you teach me here. That meant so much to me. Ross and reading have been a process. He and I have come a long way in the journey and that is so fun to see the progress in reading and the growth in our relationship. Again what sweet kiddos I have.

Carson is still coming to me and saying "My Mommy" and hugging me. He has done that for quite awhile. It will be sad when he moves out of that phase. It all started about a year ago when he and I were out shopping just the two of us and I said "You are my Carson" and after that I was HIS Mommy. I love that and love hearing that. Today Carson was crying at nap time that he wanted me to stay with him. That is NOT common. He does a great job going to sleep. I sang him some songs and he settled and went to sleep. Not sure what was concerning him about being alone but thankful that Mommy can make it better.

Jedidiah is SOOO close to crawling. Today Gabriel was working with him and encouraging him to give it a try. It could be any day now that he takes off. As always he brightens everyones day with his easy smile. He LOVES LOVES LOVES paper. He found a stack of Gabriel's math paperwork and got a hold of one of those to crinkle and chew and had to get it away from him. Annalina was talking to Jedidiah today and said the sweetest thing and I thought I have to blog that and of course now I can't remember! I hope it comes to me because it was absolutely TOOO sweet!

 I was thinking the other day how different Jedidiah's life is from the other kids. He has 5 people in the house that carry him around and care for him!! Way different than the older kids. Five people is a lot of attention and care!!! Carson can't carry him around (he did the other day and I put a stop to that) but he does pay attention and give care to Jedidiah. He sings and talks to him. Carson is our big time singer. He sings and sings Christian songs and I LOVE that. Annalina sings a lot too. She came to me tonight before bed and told me she didn't think she could make it if someone told her she couldn't never sing again.