Memorial Weekend 09

Per tradition, we spent some time at Moosehead this weekend. Only one night, but it's always a blessing to spend time with Josh's family.

We celebrated lots of birthdays, including Isabelle's approaching 4th birthday. She was quite excited about this dog from Grammy and Grampy.

And there were tell-tale signs of chocolate ice cream on her cheeks

The kids got to sleep on the hide-a-bed which they thought was so much fun. Their cousins were very jealous.

Everyone but Mom Mathews and I went for a boat ride. It was freezing, but it's not a trip to camp without a ride on the lake.

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Ladies Retreat 09

The Lord blessed this year's ladies retreat in every way. Beautiful weather, a new location, amazing teaching, fun fellowship... I think most of us who went got just what we "needed", and for each of us, it was something different.
Me? What did I get? More than I could say ( or more than would hold your interest!). But I'll venture to share a few things.

I typically go to retreats expecting the Lord to speak to me in an awesome way. After all, the Bible promises if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. And there truly is nothing I love more than an excuse to be with the Lord. But I am often torn at retreats. I want to fellowship with my friends - after all, none of us have kids with us! But I also long to hear from the Lord and I love to have the opportunity to pray with other ladies and talk about how He is speaking to us.

The Lord took me by surprise, as always. Friday night we were given the opportunity to nail to the cross (literally) whatever has been hindering our walk with the Lord- fear, the past, anger, whatever it might be. We were given a ticket to write it on and invited to bring it up and nail it, reminding us it is finished. The price has been paid. Truthfully, as I asked the Lord what to put on that ticket, I could have filled both sides with all that he revealed to me! I asked him to reveal the root, the big thing. I didn't really get an answer. And, I confess, I was a little ticked. In the past few months I have had an almost desperate longing to be changed, to be even more transformed. And I thought if I could just discover the one thing that was holding me back and nail it to the cross, then I would be done with it! As I drove back to the cabin, I sputtered to the Lord that he wasn't speaking to me the way he should be.

Then morning came and with it his mercies. Thank God for that. Somehow, through my morning Bible reading, he showed me that not everything is going to be an instant fix in my life. I have experienced that before- instant healing that I can't explain at all except that the Lord overpowered me. But, consistent with what he has been speaking to me in the past months, he reminded me that it's more about abiding in Him and as I do that, all those things I could fill a ticket up with will slowly be pruned away. And I actually need to stop thinking about them so much and think about Him more. Simple? Profound? Both. He is amazing that way.

I loved the fellowship with my sisters and the Lord actually spoke to me a lot about them too- how to love them more, let them in more, and look to their needs more. I'll share the link to our speaker's web site. She is just an amazing woman who loves the Lord and longs to see women in the Word of God, abiding in Christ, living an abundant life in him.

http://www.debbibryson.com/

Me and my girl Kim. She came home from Arizona and it was such a blessing to get a few days with her!

Kim and Heather enjoying the cabin amenities.

Our cabin crew. We had lots of fun!

Six at Last!

More birthday pictures... after all, being six is a big deal. Our tradition is to let the kids open their presents first thing on their birthday.

Birthday breakfast of pancakes.

A tackle box from Daddy, which included money to go shopping for fishing goodies.


The King Aurthur castle that will probably never be completed... but it's still lots of fun!

"Just what I always wanted!" "Totally awesome!"

The Bionicle Caleb had requested of Nana and Pop-Pop.

Showing Pop-Pop his fishing tackle

Oh No, Not My Baby!

He's six! Well, in two days he'll officially be 6, but it's close enough to be hitting home! Today we celebrated with a "friends" party- and y'all know that one family of friends is a party in itself! We had 22 kids and I am so thankful the weather cooperated and that we were able to party outdoors! There was a pinata which took forever to crack into and a water balloon

launch with human targets!

Caleb with one of his best buds

My soon-to-be 4 year old (lovin those freckles that are showing up on her nose!)

Caleb gets his shot at the pinata

I finally beat the pinata to death ( apparantly this was highly amusing) so the kids could scramble for the candy. I was so blessed to see them sharing with the kids who didn't get as much.

Caleb requested a monster cake this year and Nana really came through!

I wonder what he wished for...

Caleb gets his chance to seek revenge on whoever soaked him with a water balloon.

Madison was fantastic, shooting for big brother Christian.

About half of the kids... the other half joined shortly after

Me and my "little" guy (picture courtesy of Sara and smile courtesy of Isaac).

I know it's cliche, but the years have flown by. He just doesn't seem six! I remember so well the day he was born and the amazing way he came into this world. I think Josh and I were in awe of him the entire first year of his life... and we still are in so many ways. He is so unique, intuitive, bright, handsome, sensitive... I'm just so thankful that I get to be his mom and that he'll always be my first born!

Freedom to Pray

My fingers are icy cold as I type. I just returned from our local National Day of Prayer gathering and the weather was rainy and frigid. Still, I packed the kiddos up and we went together. On the drive down the hill to get there, it realized that this was a little teachable moment. Today, hard as it is to believe, we finished up our final Weaver unit for the year, slavery. The question came up several times- Is freedom worth fighting for?

We have an amazing freedom in this country to assemble together and worship the LORD. I confess that I take it for granted. But as I see the direction our nation is headed in, and as we've studied together the oppression of particular people's freedom, it hits home a bit more how thankful I should be. I explained this to the kids, that we are free to get together and pray in the wide open public square. Not every country affords that right.

We sat in the gazebo, a little wet, rather chilly, and prayed with believers in our town. I get teary eyed just thinking about it. It really blessed me. I wonder how much my children heard... yet I know them. They are listening to so much more than I think they are. I pray that someday they'll look back and remember this cold, rainy day and something will click- freedom is worth fighting for... and exercising our freedom is worth sitting in the rain for.

Romans 6:18 says "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness"

We made chains of sin (hitting, angry eyes, mean faces, disobedience, and yelling) and broke them by the "power of Jesus". Caleb thought this was way cool.

First Boat Ride of the Season

I just had that feeling that Josh would come home early today, itching to get the boat in the water. I was right of course. I know him well. The kids have been itching too. So I packed a picnic dinner for us and we spent a few hours on the lake.

What a beautiful sight. No more mini-van towing the boat!

Caleb was anxious to start fishing. Dinner wouldn't tempt him.

Like father, like son.

Sadly, the evening ended prematurely with the sudden drowning of Caleb's fishing pole. A bit of over zealous casting sent it overboard and to the bottom of the lake. He repeatedly asked us to call in the scuba divers to get it, but he couldn't convince us. He was ready to call his fishing career quits for life at that point, but by the time we were back on shore, he was asking to return to the lake tomorrow. If it weren't for predicted rain, I'm sure we would.