The Word of God is Active...

We are getting to the point with our older girls of transitioning more to discipling them more than disciplining them. This has been difficult to navigate through because we are still learning what this will look like. But this week I felt in a very tangible way the truth of Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit,...”

Hope has always been a very strong–willed child and when disciplining her, and it often takes a lot for her will to submit to our authority. This can often be a drawn out process. This past week, I was faced with another challenge in her disobedience and attitude. She was sent to her room until I was able to talk to her. This was mostly so she could think about things and also for me to pray and think through how I was going to approach her. After a while, I went up to her room and started with why I sent her to her room. Her response was she didn’t mind being in her room. So I told her that if that if being in her room didn’t help her think, she would need to be made a little more uncomfortable.

So I sent her to stand in the corner so she could think about things. Again, I needed to think and pray how to approach her (and work through my anger at this point too.) I then sent her back to her room so we could talk. She was still pretty cavalier and her attitude was not sweet. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to say, but I did grab my Bible and brought it in with me.

When I opened my Bible, I saw this:

The Three Trees-It has been a great tool used by our church and many SG churches to make gospel connections with our behaviors and the roots of those behaviors in our hearts. But it doesn’t leave it at that. It takes us to the cross and what Christ did for our sins on that tree. I thought that would be a good thing to help me talk through things with Hope. And as I did, something amazing happened. She started sobbing as we talked through the three trees and what Christ did for us. Her will was submitting to the Lord and her attitude was changed.This had a profound impact on me. Spending 5 minutes helping Hope apply the gospel to her life did more to change her behavior than the half hour she spent having consequences for her actions. I saw the word of God cutting her to her heart and that verse in Hebrews came alive in that instant. The word of God is powerful to change our lives, but also powerful to change the lives of our children. We labor in sewing into their lives at these young ages often without seeing much reaping. But when we do catch a glimpse of the reaping, it is sweetness to the soul.

P.S. Excuse the crazy font stuff going on. Not sure why it was doing this.

Gratefulness

The key to being grateful is often just a shift in our perspective. Oh how I need to remember this.

Long overdue...again

How does time slip away so quickly?

We have had a full several weeks since last posting. My family minus my brother visited for 6 days. We enjoyed lots of time together, went into D.C twice as well as the Great Falls of the Potomac River on the Maryland side. While in D.C we visited The Spy Museum, Air and Space Museum, and took a White House Tour. We didn't see the Obama's, but we did see their dog, Bo.

Two weeks after they left, our pastor's from Minnesota along with their wives were here for the pastor's conference. Pastor Scott and Angela stayed with us and we were able to enjoy some time with them. Angela and I went to D.C. to see the American History Museum. It was a perfect day for walking outside and enjoying Starbucks coffee and a few laughs. The pastor's conference was great and we heard some good messages. We have been incredibly blessed with a care group that has "adopted" us for the time we are out here and they provided babysitting so we could attend the 3 day conference.

A week after they left, our good friend Becky came to visit for 9 days and what a blessing that was! The girls, of course, got out of most of their school so we could enjoy time with her. We added more field trips to our growing list including a tavern in a house from the 1700's which also had a hidden room that was part of the underground railroad (very cool!), a Civil War wax museum, D.C. National Zoo, Union Station, and the Postal Museum. We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving here at home with her. Becky and I squeezed in a couple movies and went Black Friday shopping. That was a crazy night which involved observing a couple fights at Walmart and some lady having to go the hospital after being knocked unconscious.

Three weeks after that which is now only a week away, we are flying to Minnesota for Christmas break. Whew. Between all that, we are trying hard to keep up with school, maintain the household, and make time for fellowship and community with friends. Ken is doing great in school, managing his time well, and balancing family and school in a worthy manner.

In the midst of all our busyness, the one constant is God's faithfulness. He is faithful to His word, His promises, His kindess, and His unconditional love.

Below are some pics of the past couple months.

Thank you to all who continue to pray for us. It is felt and appreciated!

Hopefully, we will see some of you soon!

Where to begin?

A beautiful day at Brookside Gardens

No explanation needed. :-)

Finally a few sunny days to enjoy.
We have had so much rain lately!

We have already been her close to 2 months and if the rest of the year continues to go this fast, well, it is going to be over before we know it.

Last week was very busy, but like always, God's grace was sufficient. Ken and all the other men in the pastor's college spent the week in Philadelphia learning under Dave Harvey and some of the other pastor's there.

While he was gone, these were some of the highlights from on the homefront:

-Zoe turned 1! It is hard to believe it, but it is true. What a joy she is. Ken of course wasn't here, but he did get to wish her happy birthday on Skype.

-Camel crickets! Yuck! I hired the girls to catch them for me in the basement: 50 cents for the biggies, and 25 cents for the babies. We didn't know what they were. What we did know was that they looked like a cross between a spider and a cricket, they can really hop, and they hop towards you. So this led us to some detective work. We packed one of these bugs in tupperware and ended in a trip to...

-Brookside Botanical Gardens. The place was beautiful and some very helpful volunteers solved our mystery bug question.

-A visit from two officers from the police department to our home. A series of freaky coincidences resulted in calling in a report to the police and having them come check things out. All turned out fine and we were amazed and humbled by the outpouring of care to bring us comfort: multiple offers to stay elsewhere until Ken got home, neighbors checking things out for us, and much prayer.

-Ken came home. We all missed him and were really glad when he got back. He actually took a whole day off of his studies, a first since starting school.

I was reminded this week once again of our dependence on and need for God. He is the one who sustains us and keeps us. To Him be all the glory and honor and praise.

Legan Happenings...

We have been busy these days, but God has been faithful and He is always good!

Here are some of our highlights...

We finished our third week of schooling and I would describe it (so far!) as a sweet time with my girls. I don't know if it is that they are getting older or we are out of our normal context, but it truly has been enjoyable! Hope's favorite subject so far is cursive and is taking great joy in writing Scriptures and sending them to people. Gracie's favorite is music which is no surprise there!

-God provided a way for the girls to continue with violin and piano while here. Their teachers are teenagers who have been playing since they were little and that gives us a price that fits our budget. H & G think it is cool that they are teenagers and it has given them a vision to maybe do this when they are older.

-Several fieldtrips! We want to make fieldtrips a priority and take advantage of the history available to us out here. We have been to Gettysburg and learned about the Civil War. We have visited Jametown-the first permanent English settlement (even before the Pilgrims), Yorktown-the final Battlefield of the War for Independence, and Williamsburg-the former capital of Virginia which is now a living history museum for how they lived during colonial times (1700's). Next up is the National Zoo in Washington D.C.

-Ken is settling into PC and getting a rhythm for balancing school and family.

-Zoe popped another tooth and now has 9! She has a mouthful. She is running around everywhere is a joy to us all.

-Hope turned 9 yesterday. Birthday are SO important to Hope and she plans them months in advance-all the details to her cake, the theme, invitations, games, etc. With her take charge skills, I am pretty sure she could run a small country. :-) This year she opted for a fancy dinner out with the family. Yay, cheaper than a kids party and less planning! So we found a sitter for Zoe, got dressed up in our fancy dresses and daddy with his tie and shirt, and away we went. She was so excited and told us that it was the best best birthday ever.

Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us while we are out here. It is deeply appreciated.

First Day of School....

for Ken that is!

It has been a loooong time since Ken has been is this position and I think it will a challenging but very good 10 months for him. Not to mention a life changing 10 months. The girls and I dropped Ken off and went in to get a couple pictures on the first day of school. Many of the other men in his class were arriving at the same time and there was much anticipation and excitement in the air. We are looking forward to seeing God's mighty work in the minds and hearts of these men and their families.

Happenings in Maryland...

Playroom downstairs.

Zoe's room and she is finally in a crib!

Hope's half of the room-with her very own bed.

Gracie's side of the room-with her own bed too!

An unpacked kitchen-thanks Becky M!

So lots has been going on and I think that this is just the beginning of a very busy next 10 months....

After having an earthquake last Tuesday, the rest of the week was filled with reports of Hurricane Irene coming. We even had an automated message from the electric company telling us to prepare for power outages for 2-3 days. So just to be cautious, we did buy some bottled water and candles and tied down some loose things outside. Well, we got our hurricane last night which amounted to some moderate winds and moderate rain. We did spend about an hour cleaning up leaves and branches, but it was mostly anticlimatic here, anyways.

We did get out this week for our first official fieldtrip. We spent a few hours at the Gettysburg battlefields and museums. We all learned a lot and hopefully there will be many more learning fieldtrips this year.

We had some kickoff events for our PC year and I don't think I can describe how cared for we are feeling out here. They have gone way beyond the extra mile. Here is just one of many examples already. We had our orientation yesterday. When we pulled up to the church, they had people waiting to valet park our cars. When we picked them up, every car had been detailed inside and out!

Other events this week included orientation to our new homeschool co-op, a PC ladies luncheon, Hope's handbell choir concert, and introduction of the new PC class to the church.

I posted a couple pictures of our house, in case anyone was interested in seeing where we are living...