Happy 6 weeks, Peep!

Peep is 6 weeks old today! She's crying tears, giving us little smiles, and trying hard to lift her precious head...

Happy 14th Birthday, Scribe!

Today our dear Scribe is 14! We're so thankful God chose us to be his parents, and it's such a joy to watch him grow and mature. Here are 14 things (yes, it's hard to stop there..) we love about our Scribe.....

1) He loves the LORD.

2) He desires to measure all things by God's Word.

3) He loves being with his family, doing things together as a family, and serving his family.

4) He's a gifted writer.

5) He's very organized. Just give him a jumbled mess, and he'll work wonders!

6) He's a generous and thoughtful gift-giver.

7) He loves babies and Littles and is so good with them.

8) He's a fabulous camp cook, blessing everyone with his creativity. (At home, too!)

9) He's very responsible and trustworthy.

10) He loves sharing his thoughts with us about books, music, and everything else. He values our opinions.

11) He's protective over the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of his siblings.

12) He's competitive while delighting in the victories of others.

13) He's a gifted pianist and composer.

14) He's a motivated student, showing initiative in his studies.

Scribe's birthday celebration happened in two parts. Saturday night we enjoyed a special dinner of steak fingers, mashed potatoes, and cornbread, at his request. Of course, don't forget the real sweet tea!

Mountain Man asked me if I wanted some mashed potatoes with my butter. However, I won't tell you how many helpings he had. :)
Mountain Man cooked these up for us and enjoyed some white gravy with them this time.

Little Bit wasn't happy to have been found out. We caught her in the pantry enjoying the barbeque chips while we were cooking dinner.

There were lots of happy moments as Scribe enjoyed opening his gifts.







Scribe's birthday "cake" was actually a fruit and cream pie. And, no, this Mama didn't make it.

This morning we celebrated with one of Scribe's favorite breakfasts...cream cheese scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls.

Happy Birthday, Scribe! We love you!

Snow Buddies

What A Beautiful Morning

One of God's gifts to us today. Another chance to snuggle under the warm covers. To drink hot chocolate or tea. To marvel at the unexpected. To thank God that Daddy gets to stay home.

"But I thought it was Spring," said Whistler, as she watched the first snowflakes fall. It is....and our God is a God of surprises. Isn't it lovely?

Lord, Keep Us

Morning & Evening by C.H. Spurgeon is probably one of the most thought-provoking and influential devotionals I have read. The author, who is referred to as the"Prince of Preachers", often takes passages from God's Word which I had never really paid much attention to, and delves into them, providing incredible insight, and giving the reader a greater sense of just how deep and unfathomably rich every part of the Bible is. You can read the Scriptures as much as you want, you can go through it verse by verse, and bring out all the commentaries on your bookshelf, but you still won't glean all that you can from it. You will always be learning something new from it as long as you live.

I have here an excerpt from one devotional that particularly stood out to me. I think it gives us a beautiful and humbling view of just how utterly helpless and wretched we sinners are without our Lord to keep and to guide us, and how much we must entirely depend upon Him in everything...

"...if the grace of God should leave the best Christian, there is enough sin in his heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are the warmest for Christ would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: you who are sound in faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine; you who now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel to and fro, and stagger with a drunkeness of evil passion. Like the moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace shines on us, we are darkness itself when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws Himself. Therefore let us cry to God never to leave us. 'Lord, take not Thy Holy Spirit from us! withdraw not from us Thine indwelling grace! Hast Thou not said, I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day? Lord, Keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom , we may therefore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us laboring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!'"

The Psalmist often said the same in his many songs to Jehovah. He often prayed God to keep him, to preserve him in his Almighty care and love. We must do so as well.

One beautiful and well known hymn goes as following:

"I need Thee every hour,

Most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine

Can peace afford.

(Chorus)

I need Thee, O I need Thee,

Every hour I need Thee;

O bless me now, my Saviour,

I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour;

Stay Thou near by;

Temptations lose their power

When Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour,

In joy and pain;

Come quickly and abide,

Or life is vain.

I need Thee every hour;

Teach me Thy will,

And Thy rich promises

In me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour,

Most holy One;

O make me Thine indeed,

Thou blessed Son."

Without Christ, we are nothing. Nothing. It is only by His Almighty, loving and everlasting grace that we are called Sons of God; it is only by His unmerited mercy and forgiveness that we are anything at all. We must ever remember this, and continually pray, "Lord, Keep us! Keep us, O our God!"

Persevero,

Scribe

Life in Pictures 3/24/09

"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family."

~Thomas Jefferson


Moments from the past week and a half...

Desiring Peep to be a book lover like the rest of her siblings, Little Bit begins reading to her sister.

"Look, Peep, I especially love this picture."

"Umm, does someone know where Peep's pacifier is?"

Peep is 5 weeks old today!

Overwhelmed by getting used to her new bathtub (notice that it's pink), Peep declares, "No more pictures!"Reaches Up's latest costume craze...bandana under hat...and latest identity..."Mortimer L. Bixby." (inspired by his friend, Curtis)

One of life's greatest gifts....love notes from your children. These are from Reaches Up.

"I think I'll have a tea party now that I'm done takin' care of them varmints.""This is a special blend of tea. I hope you like it.""Oh, you flatter me so! I guess I am brilliant.""I'd better write down that recipe since they liked it so much."

A Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Well, it might not be a scavenger hunt for purists, but it was close enough. Today is Mountain Man's birthday, so the children and I decided it would be great fun to treat him to a birthday scavenger hunt yesterday. We loaded up in the van, gave Mountain Man his clues, and drove to Albuquerque for a very drawn out birthday celebration!

I made up several clues that would lead him to some favorite places so that he could purchase some of his favorite things. I planned out our day ahead of time, and then numbered the envelopes accordingly. Each of the children were to give him one of the envelopes.

"We hope today will be lots of fun
Just follow the clues one by one..."

Our first stop was....

"You love to shop here

but there's never enough time

Thankfully, your dividend is more than a dime"

REI, of course.

Mountain Man bought a book on bicycle maintenance and repair (it's that time of year) as well as an armband for his iPod. (which was actually one of his other surprises....I never thought he'd buy something for his iPod at REI...)

Next stop...

"It's time to loosen up

and stare at the floor.

You like sitting in a chair

When we go to this store."

This one actually stumped him for a bit. (I'm so clever. :)) Of course, the clue described a chair massage, and he was actually able to see one of the therapists that he knows.Now that he's quite relaxed and a bit more tension-free, it was time to go to his guitar lesson. This was the BIG event because it was at the shop that he bought his BIG gift....an electric guitar.

Here he is with his new Jet King. Yes, he has an Amp, too. (Goodbye dreams of classically trained guitarists in our family....hello, lots of noise....:))

It was mid-afternoon at this point, so we went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. It was a delightful treat.

From here we headed to...

"We know you're composing

Your own musical score,

But check out the sheet music

At this great store..."

MUSIC MART.

I didn't get a picture, but Mountain Man did find a music book to use with his guitar. And from here we went to....

"Here you'll find a couple of treasures

A new cd and a coffee...

Two of life's pleasures."

BORDERS

Mountain Man bought a jazz cd, turned down the coffee, and chose to have an old-fashioned root beer float at Sonic. (Ahem...the children were quite pleased by this choice since they preferred ice cream over coffee...)

It was time for the final envelope..

"This trip is over

But the day is not done

Let's head back home

For a bit more fun.

Waiting for you are two more treats

A foot soak and a back rub

What do you think?"

And that ended the day and a great celebration. The only problem...we could hear echoes of "I want a scavenger hunt for my birthday...." from the children. I think we just made a new family tradition.

This is what Claire did most of the day.Little Bit had great smiles for us!