Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) was an English poet and hymn writer. Around the age of 30, she became an invalid and remained so for the rest of her life, suffering from inexplicable pain and weakness. Convicted by a minister’s words about her bitterness and anger towards God because of her illness, Elliott turned to Jesus Christ for peace. She penned around 150 hymns, including Just as I Am.
via: the resurgence
Mason's belt testing for Taekwondo was tonight. He did amazingly and got an awesome surprise!
This was before it started and look how sweaty he is. He never can keep that uniform shirt on straight.
The Judges
Look how happy he is! He was totally expecting to be getting the "decided" yellow belt (I think that is what it is called) but they bypassed it and bumped him up to a camouflage belt!!! Way to go Mason!!!
Mason with one of his instructors, Mr. Hoffman.
Mason with the boss man, Mr. Robles. Mason is looking at himself in the mirror :-)
Mason loves Mr. Phillips. He keeps telling me that he wants him to come to his birthday party :-)
Mason is so excited!! He gets to start a whole new class and work on a new form. He did awesome! He has worked very hard. We are proud of you, Mason!!
Robles' Martial Arts in Murrieta.
When Erick and I were receiving pre-marital counseling, our pastor told Erick that he (Erick) will have to work at "drawing me out" (Proverbs 20:5) because I am not very chatty :-) I must say that Erick has become quite skilled at it. I saw this on Between Two Worlds and thought it was helpful.
*This obviously is not a picture of Erick and I, but some of you might recognize this cute couple.
How to Spark Substantive Conversations with Your Spouse (or with your children and close friends too!)
[David]
Powlison suggested three categories of questions to ask your husband or
wife. Each of these categories can be asked on a daily basis. And each
of these categories are simple and broad, but certainly provide helpful
reminders. Here are the three:1. What are your present burdens?
The Bible tells us that we are born for trouble (Job 5:7).
So what is the trouble? A sin? A responsibility? An issue at work? A
particular conflict? What weighs you down? What was your lowlight of
this day? These burdens are the “heat of life.”2. What are your present joys?
What were your highlights from the day? These joys are the “dew of blessing.”
3. What is your calling?
This
could include the mundane tasks, or broader life-purpose questions.
What are your duties for this day? What do you need to do? What are
your goals for this day? For example, a parent could say, “Today, I
don’t want to lose my temper with the kids.” It could be as simple as
this.
For more on this, see Powlison's very helpful little booklet on Renewing Marital Intimacy.
(Found on Between Two Worlds)
I just read this article from the NY Times on Hugging (or on Banning Hugging). Let me just say that Kaleo has the best huggers ever :-)
When we started having Kaleo at our house years ago we had tons of young people in our home every week. We have met some of the sweetest people over the years. We have also met some of the best huggers too! I had never met anyone before that hugged like the Loeschnig or the Tinahui girls. They will really squeeze ya and hold you tight. They hug everyone, even people they never met before. It is awesome and refreshing.
My boys are great huggers. I remember when Mason started Kindergarten he would run up to kids he played with the day before and hug them. It is funny to watch other kids receive Mason's hugs. Some would just stand stiff and look like they have no idea what he is doing! Just like the lady in the article! She says -
“And there doesn’t seem to be any other overt way in which they
acknowledge knowing each other,” she continued, describing the scene at
her older son’s school in Manhattan. “No hi, no smile, no wave, no
high-five — just the hug. Witnessing this interaction always makes me
feel like I am a tourist in a country where I do not know the customs
and cannot speak the language.”
And apparently some schools are banning hugging now -
"A measure of how rapidly the ritual is spreading is that some students
complain of peer pressure to hug to fit in. And schools from Hillsdale,
N.J., to Bend, Ore., wary in a litigious era about sexual harassment or
improper touching — or citing hallway clogging and late arrivals to
class — have banned hugging or imposed a three-second rule."
Anyways keep up the great hugging! And Happy Birthday Rosy! We love you! You are an awesome hugger :-)
I am looking forward to starting a new month soon! Everyday of this month someone in our family has been sick. I wish we all just got it all at the same time instead of it dragging on for a whole month. So not too many pictures of the kiddos lately. Thought I would spare you the vomit and snot faces :-)
Miles had his last day of preschool last week. He did very well on his progress report. He has made great progress according to his teacher and I would agree with that. We still need to work on self-control with the crying and learn how to skip. Cobbs are just not skippers. Mason didn't master skipping in kindergarten and even Erick failed at skipping in elementary school!! Oh well, I think one can still succeed in life without skipping :-) Miles loved going to preschool. He was always eager and happy to go. He misses his teacher, his friends and going to school.
The last day the class let their butterflies go. Miles is the tall one on the left.
Miles and his teacher, Miss Krista.
I read this on Between Two Worlds today. Ouch! Gossip is so easy to do and so destructive!
What is Gossip?
Ray Ortlund defines one of the church's most popular and acceptable sins:
Gossip is our dark moral fervor eagerly seeking gratification.
Gossip makes us feel important and needed as we declare our judgments.
It makes us feel included to know the inside scoop.
It makes us feel powerful to cut someone else down to size, especially someone we are jealous of.
It makes us feel righteous, even responsible, to pronounce someone else guilty.
Gossip can feel good in multiple ways. But it is of the flesh, not of the Spirit.
. . . Gossip is a sin rarely disciplined but often more socially destructive than the sensational sins.
Gossip leaves a wide trail of devastation wherever and however it goes – word of mouth, email, blogging, YouTube.
It erodes trust and destroys morale.
It
creates a social environment of suspicion where everyone must wonder
what is being said behind their backs and whether appearances of
friendship are sincere.It ruins hard-won reputations with cowardly but effective weapons of misrepresentation.
It manipulates people into taking sides when no such action is necessary or beneficial.
It
unleashes the dark powers of psychological transference, doing violence
to the gossiper, to the one receiving the gossip and to the person
being spoken against.It makes the Body of Christ look like the Body of Antichrist – destroyers rather than healers.
It exhausts the energies we would otherwise devote to positive witness.
It robs our Lord of the Church he deserves.
It
exposes the hostility in our hearts and discredits the gospel in the
eyes of the world. Then we wonder why we don’t see more conversions,
why “the ground is so hard.”
Read the whole thing, including what you should do when you start to hear gossip.
We had to put my kitty to sleep late last night. She was the most amazing cat. My friend Danielle wanted to clone her so she could have a cat just like her. Even people that don't like cats liked this cat. She had a lot of personality. She was very smart and very affectionate. She even would come when you called her. She was extremely tolerant of the boys when they were younger and were not so gentle with her. She has been my pet for 17 years. I got her at the animal shelter when I was 18. She was just an itty bitty kitten. They said she was found in a trash dumpster. I have never been more attached to an animal like her. She was a great cat. I really miss her.
Miles had his open house a week ago (the night I got knocked out by the flu), so these are getting posted a bit late. Miles was so excited and proud to show us all around his school. He loves going to school!
Miles's teacher, Miss Krista
Miles and his friend
*I finally looked up if there should be an "s" after the apostrophe when Miles was in the possessive form. I guess I have been wrong, kind of... :-) I think Miles' just looks better than Miles's. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all these comas. But I don't care a lot about grammar so don't be expecting much!
So I woke up this morning still sick. Darn, I was hoping it would have passed by now!! My throat still hurt, I was still achy, and congested. The self pity was starting to overcome me. I need to call a "temp" and call in sick today. I just want to hide in bed. Oh wait, I can't do that I am a MOM!! No sick days and no "temps" for you girl :-( Life goes on and I can sit here feeling sorry for myself or change my attitude.
So here is my sort list of what I am thankful for while sick.
1. Extra Strength Tylenol
2. Air conditioner ~ This is very comforting when it was 90 degrees today and I had a fever.
3. A baby that likes to sleep ~ Ellie took a 3 1/2 hour nap this morning and then two more naps later on!
4. Compassionate children. Miles prayed for me. He also said that he will still love me even when I am sick. What?! :-o
5. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. So far no one else is sick.
6. An entertaining dog. I watched Hula play tether ball.
7. A helpful and understanding husband.
8. An early Mother's Day present. Almost everything I want to do on the computer I can do on this cool phone. I don't even have to get off the sofa :-)
9. White Lime Frozen Yogurt. It feels good on a sore throat.
Yesterday Erick was hanging out in our spa with Mason and Miles and Miles says, "Daddy, which Star Wars character would you be?" Erick says, "Humm, I'd like to be Yoda because he is wise and a leader." Miles then says, "No daddy. You would be Chewbacca because you are furry."
The neighbors came over last night for a BBQ. We watched 4 boys run around like cavemen squashing lemons and blowing bubbles.
