Calico Bush

We've finished a couple more books around here...this one was completed last week during our handwriting/morning reading times. Calico Bush was a good, solid read. We all enjoyed it, and it gave some good insight into early American settlement. The book took place back in 1743 and follows the life of a French bound-out girl to a English family as they settle in the New World. It is a story of courage and determination with well developed characters and interesting events. Even though it doesn't have all the excitement of Caddie Woodlawn, it is well written and draws you in. I'm not sure my kiddos would have stuck with reading it on their own, but we did enjoy reading it together.

Heartcry

Heartcry is another great missions organization founded by Paul Washer. Their primary purpose is to spread the gospel through indigenous missionaries with an emphasis to the unreached. They work to connect people desiring to support those missionaries with the missionaries themselves. Interaction and accountability are key facets to their ministry.

A nice thing about their ministry is that they do not solicit funds-you won't get gobs of mailings from them, but they rather make known their needs to interested people and allow God to provide. You can support them in a general way that addresses the needs of their staff and indigenous missionaries, or by specifically noting church construction, evangelistic tools, or bibles and literature.

Their quarterly magazine update shares many amazing stories about how God is working the specific countries. It also includes some articles by Paul Washer who is very convicting and desiring to challenge Christians to live a purposeful life for the kingdom.

Kids Are People Too - Pt 2

I figured I'd give some examples of what I wrote about yesterday, just in case anyone was wondering how those thoughts practically play themselves out...

1. When a child brings you a creation of theirs, take the time to actually stop and look at it acknowledging their ability and the time they took to make it.


2. If you see a stray sock on the floor of a child who normally is good about picking their clothes up, go ahead and put it in the laundry basket for them rather than calling to them to pick it up.


3. When you see a small thing in the store that a particular child will especially enjoy and it is not something outside of your budget, get it and say how it made you think of them.


4. If you are having leftovers of something your child doesn't like and they already were expected to eat it the first time around, provide something else for them or give them a smaller portion.


5. Bring up a piece of information you've learned/acquired that will interest your child even if you aren't interested in that subject. For example, if your boy likes baseball, tell him about a record that was broken by a baseball team that he may not have heard for himself regardless of if you absolutely hate baseball.


6. Put aside a project you are working on to look into a child's face and listen to whatever is important to them at the moment.


7. Surprise a child sometime by doing a chore that is normally theirs to do.


8. Take the time to write a note telling your kiddo how much you appreciate what they did or who they are.


9. Let a child be silly, sing goofy songs, or dance around even if you'd rather they not.


10. Give your kiddo the choice of what to do or where to go if that is a reasonable option.

Of course, you can't do all these things all the time...we must get work done, silliness is inappropriate at times, and responsibility must be cultivated. But as parents we sometimes don't take the thoughts and feelings of our kids into our minds enough. Hopefully this list will be a beginning of ways to make our children know we care about them as individuals as well as being our children.

Kids Are People Too

This post title has been sitting around in my drafts section for months waiting for words to go with it. I know it sounds obvious that "kids are people to", but I think we often, as parents, don't treat them as such. Rather, we often treat them as little creatures who are just expected to do exactly as we want, exactly when we want. That their cares are secondary, and their needs are an interruption into the more important realm I have constructed around myself.

Now, I'm not falling over the edge into child-centered parenting which I think is a real problem...so this isn't a post about letting your kiddos act and do as they wish. My point is that we desire grace when we mess up, so let's extend grace to our kiddos as well. We enjoy being with people who like us for who we are without always trying to change us, so let's just spend some time with our children enjoying them for who they are. We want others to show interest in what is important to us, so let's show some interest into what's important to our kiddos. We like people being thoughtful towards us, so let's be thoughtful to our children. We're thankful when someone picks up our slack, so let's also help our kiddos out sometimes.

This is, of course, a fine line. As parents, God gives us children to help train and mold them so I'm not advocating throwing that responsibility out the window. I just know that I can be sometimes over-zealous in that responsibility to the point where I ruin the relationship with my kiddos in pursuit of training them. If a child is constantly feeling like they aren't meeting your expectations, there will be no close relationship. Terri Maxwell said, I think in her book Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, something like "We need to have low expectations and high goals. It's when our expectations are the same as our goals that we get angry and frustrated at our children." We need to know that children are going to mess up and disobey, but love them all the same while working toward the high goal we have for them.

We need to love and enjoy our kids for who they are...for the personality, abilities, characteristics God has individually given them whether or not they are personality, abilities, characteristics that we particularly like. One of the most helpful things I've read on parenting is Solving the Crisis in Homeschooling. It's long, but worth reading for any concerned parent regardless of it's title. I saw/see myself in so many of the blind spots he mentions. I hope you'll take the time to read it and benefit from it as well.

Our poem watercolors

Fun School Day

Today I decided to just have a fun school day, something we haven't done in the five years we've been homeschooling! We went through all our subjects, and I let the kids pick what they liked best to do in each subject. Here's what they choose:

Math - Arithmetic Concept Cards - a wide variety of flash cards covering things like Roman Numerals, Temperature, Fractions, Units of Measure, Place Value, etc. (they are very overpriced, just buy used off Ebay). We played a game with these where they each had their white-erase board and put down the answer to the problem. If they got the answer right, they had the opportunity to try and get a penny in the bucket. They could keep whatever pennies made it in. I think they each got about 10 cents - not because they didn't get many answers right, but because they have bad aim. :)

We also played the same game with Brain Quest cards. They cover a whole variety of subjects and, I think, are supposed to have the questions geared to state test questions.

Grammar - We read a couple of Brian Cleary books, did our dictionary drills (call out and spell a word - the kids race to see who can find it in their dictionary first), and played a part of speech game. Basically that game just entails writing out the various parts of speech on slips of paper, crumpling them up and putting them into a jar. Each person picks out a paper and has to give an example of that part of speech. Adjective=pretty, Contraction=haven't, etc. They keep the slip of paper if they get it right, otherwise they just put it back in the jar.

Handwriting - we just did our regular Friday activity which is their final verse on picture paper.

Break - roasted marshmallows.

Science - the kids just wanted to do that as usual, but we also had a hot/cold water experiment to do.

History - we threw in a history activity as well where we tested what elevators do on airplanes since we are studying the time period where flight first began.

Reading - they choose to do our current read-aloud (The Breadwinner), read some poetry, and we did a simple watercolor depicting a piece of one of the poems we did.

Spelling - Friday's test as usual.

Spanish - just played our overall Spanish vocab word review game that comes with the curriculum.

Since we didn't have anything on the schedule for this afternoon, we made Cardamom bread. Hannah wanted to make sure that anyone who was new to the blog was told that it is really fun to make and yummy. She even made a mini-loaf...very cute.

Little Pilgrim's Progress

Little Pilgrim's Progress has been our bedtime read-aloud for I can't remember how long...many months (it has both Christian's and Christiana's story). The idea is that it is basically the story of Pilgrim's Progress for children with the main characters portrayed as children, some longer sections shortened, and the vocabulary simplified. I must say that I didn't really like it. To me, the regular Pilgrim's Progress is plenty sufficient for children as well if you skip some of the more drawn out parts like the pages of talk in Vanity Fair and clarify any hard to understand sections. I know there are so many versions out there some with updated English which I'm sure would be helpful. We went through an adult version probably a year ago with the kids (can't remember which one) and they seemed to track pretty well with it.

Of course, very few children will pick up on the many levels of truth the book has unless it is clearly explained to them and/or discussed. I didn't feel like Little Pilgrim's Progress made the truths any clearer. A better version for young children is Pictorial Pilgrim's Progress. It is greatly shortened and features a picture on each page yet still holds the main points from the story. That version could easily be read to a child of 5 or perhaps even younger.

Hannah at 1 1/2

My One Thousand Gifts

Since reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts over vacation last month, I've begun keeping my own list. I really love the idea behind this of being acutely aware of all the many ways God blesses us. It's been fun to see little things in light of God's creativity, sovereignty, and goodness. I would have more already on my list if I just took the time to jot things down...

We are doing the whole project a little different around here. Rather than having it just be a book of my very own, or each of us having our own book, I wanted everyone who came to my house to have the option of putting down things they are thankful to God for. Tonight, my amazing, stupendous, witty, clever, and sweet friend ;) was the first out-of-the-family to write. So, please take the opportunity to add your bits if you are ever at my house...

Here it is...right in my entryway, waiting to be written in :)

Haven of Hope/Hospitality House

This week's ministry is a local ministry that seeks to serve the homeless here in Wenatchee. Haven of Hope helps the women and children while Hospitality House helps the men. They are also in the process of seeking to do family shelters to meet that need. I don't know as much about Hospitality House, but since they are sister organizations, I expect many things are the same.

The more I have come to know about Haven of Hope, the more impressed I have been. Not only are they giving women and their children a temporary place to live, they really seek to give them the true gospel. Their application even expressly gives that as something they would like the ladies to learn about. Haven of Hope has at least three bible studies during the week as well as a biblical parenting class. They have strict rules as what is allowed and what is not and the ladies are expected to comply. Another thing I really appreciate is that the ladies do pay a small sum, if able, to stay there as well as chores to do...it is definitely not a free ride sort of place.

The kids and I have volunteered there for a little over a year now doing a variety of things...putting together welcome baskets, organizing things, tidying things up, etc. The kids have a great time playing with the kids that are there once they get out of school.

So, you can of course support them financially, but they also have particular needs at different times of year for volunteers. Check their website out if you want more information. I'm sure if you are not in this area, that there is something similar to this where you are at. I'd encourage you to find out what that is and how you can support them.

A picture of our chocolate milk party for lunch
(we have chocolate milk Mondays around here)

Prov 15:1

Last week I had the opportunity to sub for the Ladies' Sunday School on the topic of Anger. So, we went through a number of Proverbs on the subject and I used a commentary by Charles Bridges on the book. And, since I'm prepping for BSF tomorrow night on Isaiah 53! I'm just going to post some of his instructive comments...

Prov 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger.

Scripture so often illustrates the different effects of the tongue. The soft answer is the water to quench - grievous words are the oil to stir up the fire. And this is, alas! man's nature propensity; to feed rather than to quench the angry flame. We yield to irritation, retort upon our neighbor, have recourse to self-justification, insist upon the last word, say all that we could say, and think we "do well to be angry." Neither party gives up an atom of the will. Pride and passion on both sides strike together like two flints; and "behold! how great a matter such a little fire kindles!" (James 3:5). Thus there is the self-pleasing sarcasm; as if we had rather lose a friend, than miss a clever stroke. All this the world excuses as a sensitive and lively temper. But the gospel sets before us our Savior's example; gives us His Spirit, and imparts that blessed love that is not easily provoked; and therefore is careful not to provoke a chafed or wounded spirit. If others begin, let us forbear from continuing the strife. Patience is the true peace-maker. Soft and healing words gain a double victory - over ourselves and our brother.

----so many good points in that section...may we all be more ready with a soft answer.

I just thought the pine tree looked so lovely with all the snow...

Reverse Thinking

This YouTube video has appeared on a couple of blogs I frequent, and I wanted to share it with anyone who hasn't already seen it.



After I watched it and was thinking about it's message, it reminded me that you can pretty much take anything that this world says and reverse it to get scripture's perspective:

It's all about what I want vs. I am to deny myself (Mk 8:34)
I want to be first vs. The first shall be last and the last shall be first (Mt 20:16)
I want to be strong vs. God choose the weak to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27b)
I want to be wise vs. God choose the foolish to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27a)
It's all about looks vs. God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7)
I deserve revenge vs. It is to a man's glory to overlook an offense (Prov 19:11)
Repay evil with evil vs. Overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21)
Get all you can now vs. Store up treasures in heaven (Mt 6:20)
....just a few off the top of my head.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup had never been something I'd had or even heard of prior to moving to Wenatchee. Around here, though, it seems like everyone knows about it and makes it. So, for any of you that live somewhere else or are one of the few in Wenatchee without this delicious recipe, this post is for you. :) I know it's getting past soup time of year, but I just made another pot again this week and it is one of my favorites and is so good for leftovers...

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 t chopped garlic
1 - 16 ounce can each, rinsed - kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg dry ranch seasoning (the secret ingredient)
3 - 12 ounce cans diced tomatoes
3 - 12 ounce cans chicken broth (I just mix up some with bouillon crystals)
1 c frozen corn

Brown meat, onion, and garlic. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer 45-60 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

The kiddos got into paper dolls this past weekend.
Hannah spent hours cutting and snipping - Josh even cut out a couple.

Food

We all have sins that we struggle with, that so very few people see, and one of mine is food. Many times I choose to eat, not because I am hungry or need nourishment, but because I am unwilling to deny myself.

A friend of mine and I have daily accountability, in theory, as a holdover from our time doing The Lord's Table. We were corresponding today about how we haven't been very disciplined lately...that we need to get in better control of our eating. One of the great things about The Lord's Table is the focus on doing all to the glory of God, even our eating. That food should not be an outlet for frustration, tiredness, boredom, disappointment, etc. Overall, that has been a marked change in my life...I used to before be having a challenging day of school with the kiddos and come upstairs to eat something to soothe my frustration...thankfully, God has helped me a lot in that.

Now, it is more of an issue of just thinking I deserve to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. As I've gotten farther from the biblical foundations in that course, I am finding it harder to choose to please God in this area rather than myself. As with so much of life, it is a perspective issue...I need to be looking at my body as a tool to be used by God and part of being a useful tool is being disciplined in all areas and eating in a healthy way.

I was not created to go about my life and live it my own way...I was bought with a price and am called to honor God with my body. How little a thing it really is to choose to please God in this area rather than indulging the flesh. He has given us such wonderful and bounteous things to eat and enjoy...how sad that I ignore the Giver and abuse His gift.

May God extend grace to me that I might honor Him in this area of daily submission...

Loveliness of Spring

Grace to You

Missions Monday didn't happen last night as my laptop wouldn't connect to the internet for some reason (and still won't), and I didn't want to type out a post on the desktop (which I am doing now). :) Anyways, just pretend it's still Monday and here's the Ministry for the week...Grace to You.

This organization makes available John MacArthur's teaching through a variety of means...radio, tv, streaming audio/video, and transcripts. Dave and I have both been so blessed through his ministry over the years as he takes scripture at face value and preaches it with truth and without compromise. He teaches expositionally (going through a text verse-by-verse, not generally by topic), and doesn't shy away from teaching the hard truths in scripture.

The great thing is that you can download any of the last 40 years of sermons from the website and search for them by verse, topic, or keyword. We will often download a bunch of sermons and listen to them as we work around the house, exercise, or do whatever. There's also info about when he speaks on the radio and various blog posts from him or people on the staff.

As far as missions is concerned, since the material is available online, anyone with internet access can listen to God's Word taught. It's so neat to think of what a valuable resource this would be to someone who is a new Christian and doesn't have all the materials we so readily have available.

Hope you'll take some time to listen/read a sermon as you are able...

Understood Betsy

Understood Betsy was a book I picked off the shelves at VAL a little while ago. I saw that it was a Sonlight book and figured it would be decent. The book is about transformation. The main character, Elizabeth Ann, is being brought up in a home that is in a constant state of concern - she can't go near a dog because he might bite, she can't go to school by herself because she can't handle it, she can't dress herself because it's too difficult, etc. (It was a very interesting study of how we, as parents, can be overly sheltering and ruinous to a child.)

Then, through a series of circumstances, she is sent to live with the dreaded Putney cousins in Vermont. They don't know how "weak and fragile" Elizabeth Ann (they just up and change her name to Betsy) is and just expect her to act like a normal child without concern for all her perceived frailties. She rises to their expectations and sees that life isn't really all that scary and that she is capable of doing things for herself. (Interesting study on how our expectations affect our children.)

We all quite liked it even though as I think back through it there wasn't a tremendous amount of amazing storyline. I think it is so likable because it was well-written, the characters were well-developed, and you felt for Elizabeth Ann. It was a good study on how our attitudes and perspectives affect our lives and how we should be willing to try and do things that we are unsure of. You definitely cheered for Betsy as the story went along and saw how she was becoming strong and capable. Towards the end of the story her overly concerned relatives return to the scene and Elizabeth Ann has the decision whether to stay with the Putneys or return to her previous way of life...

Here's Hannah's book that she's been writing,
as you can see, I've double lined the pages for her

Create Your Own Books

A couple of years back Hannah received a Create Your Own book kit at a birthday party. We since have purchased a couple more kits for the kids to write in. The concept is simple yet awesome. The kit comes with two blank books in it. One a traditional book, the other one with a hole cut in the front to have a main picture be seen throughout the book. The books are nice because they have a hard cover which the kids can draw on, and the larger book has lines underneath a picture box. For older kids you would need to either line a couple of extra lines per page or have them type on the computer and then paste on the page as three lines per page is not sufficient for that age.

Anyways, it gives them a much greater sense of accomplishment to be writing a "real" book than just stories on notebook paper. Hannah even wants to do a whole series on the Adventures of Sally the Cat - I'll put some pics from hers on hopefully tomorrow. It is a great project for summers to encourage Language Arts skills without being workbook-pagish about it. I'm sure these will also become treasures to re-read as the years go by.

Let the Planting Begin

Today was such a lovely day...little pressure to get anything done other than just the day-to-day type things. Dave's been on call this week so I haven't even needed to make dinner. :) We had a regular, full day of school that went well overall, read a bunch together, took a short nap (I often try to get 15-30 min in during afternoon reading/computer time), and began planting outside.

I know it is probably a bit premature, but it's been quite warm and the kids were itching to get started. I'm not sure what got them focused on it, but earlier this week they were writing out lists of plants they wanted to buy - even looking things up in the gardening book. Hannah had a little garden area last year, but this year Josh also wanted to join in. For some reason they were particularly fixated on planting Bleeding Hearts. We do have one of those plants already that is quite lovely, and they each wanted one of their own.

So, on shopping-day Tuesday, I went through Walmart's garden section and picked some things out. Also, while I was at Home Depot, I purchased some of those lovely new plastic garden tools that won't rust when kids leave them outside time after time. :) They're pretty sturdy and seem to work normally.

The ground is so nice and easy to turn over right now after the rain yesterday so all went smoothly while planting except not having enough room for everything. I also transplanted my hydrangea that was getting roasted to death last year and my hibiscus that was getting wind-beaten to death...hopefully they'll both do better in their new homes.

Well, I know this isn't a particularly edifying or really beneficial post, but I so enjoy days like this where I can just tend to my household and get things done surrounded by at least two of my favorite people.

The Truth

An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips. Prov 24:26

We read this verse in our Bible time this morning, and it made me wonder, "Does anyone really want an honest answer?" It seems to me, especially in the politically correct American culture I live in, that honest answers are hard to come by. We would much rather have our ears tickled...who doesn't like a resounding "you're great!"?

One thing that I have come to appreciate (although not all the time!) is that Dave will give me an honest answer. I remember one time many, many years ago some friends came for dinner when I was making a new recipe. Back then we always graded the recipes...A for great, down to F, awful. Anyways, this recipe was really quite terrible, but our friends were being gracious and probably gave it a B, but Dave didn't flinch and gave it a D! The husband was astonished, he couldn't believe Dave just told me my cooking was basically terrible. :) ---just so that no one thinks Dave is a mean grader, I don't think he's ever given that poor of a grade since!

It seems to me that we, as Christians, should be doing a better job at encouraging one another to a higher degree of Christlikeness. We all have blind spots and pet sins that we may not even really recognize, or that we need accountability to overcome. I know there's been times where I've seen something in another's life that was obvious to me, but not obvious to them. But, how often have I actually said something? Very rarely unless they are a very close friend. And, I'm sure there are issues in my life that I am totally missing.

This also goes along with the concept of "wounds from a friend can be trusted." Which is truly the more loving thing to do...allow someone to keep pursuing a wrong path or lovingly encourage them to greater sanctification? So, anyways, I'd love to have any of you challenge me, nicely, with choices I make or actions I do so that I may become more like Christ. :)

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Prov 27:17

Ruth Myers Books

Been bopping around the Internet tonight after talking with a friend this afternoon about homeschool materials for next year...yikes! Neat to see some new options and feel like a bit of change will be in the works.

I still haven't been reading any books lately, but a most wonderful book crossed my hands the other day that I wanted to recommend. Actually, I'd encourage you to get a hold of any of the 31 Day Series by Ruth Myers. They are very helpful books that truly point you to God. As the titles note, they are broken down in daily segments for a short devotional. They focus on Praise, Prayer, The Satisfied Heart, and Power (I haven't read this one). If I remember correctly they also have a sort of introduction to the topic and various helps at the end of the book. The beauty of them is that she doesn't at all focus on the person, but on scripture and how it brings us into a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Some day when I don't have too many other commitments :), I'd like to cycle through them month by month as they are continual good reminders for the Christian life.

Monday Hannah received a free trial American Girl Magazine (that generated
huge amounts of excitement). Anyways, in the magazine it showed how
you could make little terrariums for your dolls. So, she set about
making one with some lovely birds she found at a yard sale a while back.

notice what a lovely smile Elizabeth has as she holds her pets :)

Shadow Spinner

We finished up the book Shadow Spinner last week. It was great fun and quite suspenseful in parts which made for a quick read. The premise behind the story is based on Sharazad from The Arabian Nights (which I know very little about, but hope to read some of soon). Basically, Sharazad was taken into the Sultan's harem to be his most recent wife during a time when he was killing his new wives each morning. Sharazad, in order to save her life, began an interesting story each night and left off at an exciting part to continue the following night. This proved to work and she lived as queen for a long time. Shadow Spinner picks up as she is running out of stories to tell. A girl named Marjan (really the main character) comes on the scene with a new story. She enters the politics and intrigue of harem life (I think I skipped two lines in the story that referred to how the ladies were dressed). A tangle of events leads her to secret adventures in the city streets and in the palace itself.

The great thing about this book is just what you would think...secret passageways, an evil empress mother, disguises, who can you trust?, people who aren't who they seem to be, etc. Hannah, at one point, said it was her favorite book.

Even though it was an exciting book, I wouldn't particularly say that it has any real redeeming character values or moral point. I guess what I got most out of it was a peak into royal life in ancient Persia and the skill of storytelling.

Exciting things were also afoot in the Weber household this evening.
Bobby (Josh's chick) had an impromptu birthday party. You'll notice that
lots of friends were invited and treated to a variety of random
small objects for food. Josh made a Pin-the-Tail on the Donkey game
to play with prizes conveniently taped to the wall nearby. :)

Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia is a missions organization that we particularly like. Primarily it's focus is in the 10/40 window where 97 % of the most unreached people groups are found. This ministry utilizes a wide variety of ways to spread the gospel - you are able to support a child through their Bridge of Hope program, partially support a native missionary (they like to have multiple people support one missionary for prayer support as well), give to a general fund, or provide supplies/needs like clothing, sewing machines, bicycles, chickens, etc. Amazingly, 100% of field donations go to the field! That is not very common.

To support a child is $28/month, and missionaries are $30/month. It's neat to not only support them financially, but also through prayer. It ties your heart more to them and makes you much more aware of what is going on in that part of the world. Hope you'll check them out...

A most gorgeous morning this past Saturday

Discouragement

That word seems to be cropping up quite a lot lately in a variety of conversations with a variety of people. Life can be discouraging, there is no doubt about that. As we live in this sin-riddled world, there is so much that can get us down. So, how do we respond to discouragement?

We had a most interesting verse in our BSF lesson this week from Isaiah 49...But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” Most commentators agree that this section is speaking about Christ.

I believe the key to counter-acting discouragement is found in this verse..."what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God." We can have complete confidence that God knows all about our situation, and if we are seeking to serve Him, we don't need to be worried about how in vain our efforts seem or how unfair circumstances appear.

For me, discouragement is most often linked to a feeling of futility in a situation...be it parenting, being a good wife, overcoming sin, leading others, etc...that things just don't seem to be going the way I want them to or in reciprocal measure to the effort I have put in.

So, what does a biblical response to discouragement look like? It greatly helps me to remember that we are all sinful and the result of sin is death/pain/ruined relationships/and a whole bunch of other bad things, so I shouldn't be surprised when things are not going the way I would like them to go - I should rather be surprised/thankful to see God's grace overcoming our sinful tendencies. Additionally, as a Christian, I am called to press on, regardless of my feelings, if what I am doing pleases Christ. In Him is my reward, and that oftentimes is not seen in this life. But, He has always been trustworthy and will continue to be faithful. Lastly, discouragement should make me seek heaven more passionately. One day we will be made perfect and sin will be no more...what a blessing that will be! All the discouragement in this life will melt away as we spend eternity with our Great Redeemer.

This pic is from Dave Sr.'s retirement party from the medical center on Friday
It was a lovely evening acknowledging the many wonderful things
he did in his career and the many people he positively impacted