Can I Take Your Picture?

I'm not a big fan of big government (see yesterday's post) but I will not complain that they want to give me a "return" on my taxes. I will gladly take the money and run. And this year it is not going towards a vehicle or a new baby; sure we will be responsible with most of it but who wants to be responsible all the time?! Luckily I have a husband who understands that sometimes as a parent all the responsible-ness gets to you and you start to go a little crazy...wait, you don't? So we set aside a little as "His & Her Monies" and mine is already spent. I have dreamed for years of being the owner of a Canon Rebel camera; for awhile I would have been happy with even a 35mm (that's how long I've wanted one) but now I'm going digital; the XSI to be specific. I stop and pause when I walk by the camera display at Costco or Fred Meyer and think, oh it would be nice. I know just owning a nice camera does not a photographer make, though I'm sure it helps, but I'm hoping the wonderful people that I am privileged to call friends who are also very talented photographers will share a few secrets and tips. (Hows that for buttering them up?) In a few short weeks said camera will be on my doorstep and I eagerly wait in anticipation for all the frustration of picking up a new hobby.

Whom Shall I Fear?

"The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
The LORD is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
The wicked return to the grave,
all the nations that forget God.
But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
Strike them with terror, O LORD;
let the nations know they are but men."
Psalm 9:15-20 (emphasis mine)

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell....'Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.'"
Matthew 10:28 & 32a

I am not very politically minded but I do believe that government has too much control and sometimes that scares me but no matter what you believe about government or nations we should be reminded that nations are but men who cannot ultimately harm those of us that acknowledge and love God and who have accepted Jesus Christ as his son who speaks to the Father in our defense. 1John 2:1-2

And our hope in God will never perish for God is the God of hope and he does not change. Malachi 3:6

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13

The Crusades, part 1

Erik and I have been cleaning the church every week for about 5 years now and there are some weeks that I just hate it. I don't want to do it and I go with a rotten attitude, dragging my feet and wishing to just quit. But that little bit of extra money does help out every month and there are times that I do enjoy it and today I realized something; whilst my children are safely ensconced in the nursery watching a movie I get an hour or two to think, uninterrupted. I like that.
Today if you had innocently asked what was on my mind you would have been entreated to dialogue with me on the Crusades. I've been reading The Crusades by Zoe Oldenbourg during the day and dreaming about the Crusades at night. It is an interesting read and I found myself wondering why I can't get it out of my mind. I've been so long steeped in Robin Hood and tales of Knights and I've read most of the Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters that reading a history of the Crusades was slightly disappointing at first. I hadn't realized how much I had romanticized this "Age of Chivalry" and I find myself oddly feeling the need to immediately make a judgment as to the right or wrongness of the Crusades. There are so many questions and thoughts reeling through my head that I'm not even sure how to put them all down. This may be food for thought for the next few weeks of cleaning or at least until I finish book; I'm only on page 120 of 600 or so. So stay tuned to see if I can make heads or tails of this muddle.

Commentaries and Literary Discussions

Random:
Last night Miss Moddy came into the kitchen and climbed on a chair so she could watch me make dinner; when I noticed the purse I had to take a picture:
Commentary:
Clayton loves to watch movies and for awhile one of his favorites was "Narnia" but it's been a little bit since the last time we watched it so I was surprised when he pulled it off the shelf yesterday. I sat down on the couch to watch the rest of it with the kiddos after our walk last night and laughed at inappropriate times due to Clayton's commentary:
When Aslan died, "He died!? This is stupid one, I don't like this movie."
When he came back to life, "He didn't die?! Wow, I like this one."
During the battle, "Bang! Crash! Boom! They fighting."

Literary Discussions:
I've been reading the Little House on the Prairie series with Hannah and we've just started "By the Shores of Silver Lake". It's been awhile since we've read a book without many pictures which I think causes her brain to react more to what she is hearing causing many questions related to words. This is good except that it sometimes requires me to be a walking dictionary or sends the conversation in interesting directions. We had just started the book when this conversation occurred:
Me (reading): "..and Baby Grace...."
Hannah: "Grace, what's Grace?"
Me: "Not what, who, Grace is a baby."
Hannah: "But Grace sounds like it has to do with God, it's not a name."
Me: "Sometimes people use it as a name, God shows us grace but it is not necessarily one of his names."
Hannah: "But what is grace?"
Me: "Grace is getting something you don't deserve."
Hannah: "What's deserve?"
Me: "It would be like if I went in the kitchen and put a bead in your chore jar right now without you having done anything to earn it..."
Hannah: "That's deserve?"
Me: "Well it would be grace."
Hannah: "But I thought we were talking about deserve."
Me: "Um...yes, if you earn a bead for your bead jar, you deserve it...if I give you one without you earning it, that would be grace."
Hannah: "Oh, but I think Grace needs to be a boy name because God is a boy."
Me: "I don't know that I've ever heard of a boy named Grace, can I continue reading now?"
Hannah: "Yeah, but I still think grace has to do with God."

Yes Hannah, it does. Please remember that always.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

All the Fullness of God

Often I find myself forgetting just how big the God of the Bible is and I relegate him to an understandable size of "God is big, huge, big huge, God is big, huge....he's bigger than suburbans or those new ford excursions" Knowdaverbs . Sometimes this is all I can handle at the moment but often in doing so I elevate myself and my agendas to improper heights of importance. When I get my thinking rightly focused on God the cares of this world and the fears of this world no longer hold sway over my life. Often times my thinking must be adjusted frequently throughout the day.
Lately I've been reading The Confessions of St. Augustine and I only got a few pages in before my brain wanted to explode. For St. Augustine has this to say:
"Where can I go beyond heaven and earth, so that there you may come to me, my God, who have said, 'I fill heaven and earth?' (Jeremiah 23:24)
Do heaven and hell therefore contain you, since you fill them? Or do you fill them, and does there yet remain something further, since they do not contain you? Where then do you diffuse what remains of you after heaven and hell have been filled? Or do you who contain all things have no need to be contained by anything further, since you fill all the things you fill by containing them? The vessels that are filled by you do not restrict you, for even if they are shattered, you are not poured forth. When you are poured upon us, you are not cast down, but you raise us up; you are not scattered about but you gather us up. You fill all things, and you fill them all with your entire self. But since all things cannot contain you in your entirety, do they then contain a part of you, and do all things simultaneously contain the same part? Or do single things contain single parts, greater things containing greater parts and smaller things smaller parts? Is one part of you greater, therefore, and another smaller? Or are you entire in all places, and does no one thing contain you in your entirety?"
The Confessions of St. Augustine
Book 1, chapt. 2-3

This Great God who contains everything and fills everything fills us!
I was reading a devotion put out by The Institute for Creation Research this morning and the verses today were from Ephesians 3:
Ephesians 3:16-19 (emphasis mine)
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
And I'm put in my place (gratefully, willingly and humbly) knowing my worth comes from the love of God, this great and mighty God who created me and fills me with himself when I trust in him.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved....For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Eph. 2: 4-5, 8-9

For God is big! Huge! He loves us and He fills us with himself!
Somehow that pile of laundry, the sink full of dishes and any fears of the future can't darken my skies today.

A Support of Sorts

Don't tell my carpenter husband that his wife was cutting cedar boards braced on adirondack chairs in the front yard with a handsaw having marked them with an Omni-grid plexi-glass quilting ruler. Or yet, do tell him, maybe I'll get my own tools out of it!
Yesterday I "prepared" all the pieces of the bean and pea trellises for the garden and when Erik came home from work I shamelessly coaxed him into putting them together for me. These are based off pictures of the trellis my dad made for my mom last year. I know I've mentioned the trellises before but it's hard to contain my excitement. This is the first year that the trellises are up before the vegetables that are suppose to be climbing them. Usually it's a last minute "Uh-oh, the beans and peas are falling over! What do I have that they can lean against?!" but not this year. Oh no, not this year.
The boys came out to "help" this morning and spent most of their time swinging in the hammock.

Mind the Gap

Hannah has lost her first tooth. Monday night she was allowed to stay up after her brothers had gone to bed so she could continue wiggling her tooth loose. Erik then coaxed her into letting him pull it with pliers and out it came. The one next to it is also loose but she's in no hurry to lose it; maybe because we haven't told her about the tooth fairy yet. I don't think we were quite prepared this soon to have to make a decision regarding the tooth fairy. Hannah knows that Santa Claus isn't real but she also knows the story behind him; how did the tooth fairy come to be?