Dedicated to Uncle Micah

My brother is always asking me to post pictures. I don't have many, but this mini-pic-post is dedicated to you, Uncle Micah.

Ella is in denial. She doesn't want to admit that she is still a little girl, and that she needs a nap. The result is random napping in the late afternoon.

DeLaynie, on the other hand, seems to be going through an out-going phase. She invited a friend over after church Sunday, which was especially enjoyable because her friend is 27. Her friend put her and Ella to bed after a story or two, prayers, and hugs. Edwin and I talked in the kitchen. I really want her friend to move into the spare bedroom.

I'm here, too. A lot. It's winter break, so we're at home all. the. time. I  think we may get out and play in the snow this afternoon. It's on its way out, so we better enjoy it while it lasts.



Christ in Motion

The women's retreat was this weekend. It was a really amazing experience, at least for me. I loved having some time with women that I normally only see for a few minutes each week at church. I hope that the other women found half as much benefit in the weekend as I did. If so, it was a very successful investment of time.

One of the things that we studied was the personhood of Jesus. I know that sounds very basic, but the concept of all God-ness existing in an embryo just doesn't quite fit into my brain. One of the passages that we used was John 1. Again, very basic, but never old.

I realized after our session that I had never considered one aspect of this passage. I understood Jesus as the Word, at least in the tiniest increment of understanding, and the concept of Jesus in the flesh was familiar to me. What I never saw was the motion.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. (John 1:1-3 CSB)

In the beginning, at Creation, Jesus was the tool that God used to create all things. Jesus was the expression of God's inner way of working and thinking, and through His expression, God was able to speak all things into existence. But the Word was still vague. The Word was a concept of God, a specific utterance of a piece of the whole, but it wasn't touchable. It wasn't physical. You can't put a word into a specific situation and see how it reacts. You can't eat with a word. You can't spend time with a word. A word is here, and then it's gone, and only the memory of it remains. God used words to send His Law, but the Law wasn't enough. Although Christ was the fullness of God from the beginning, we were only able to perceive Him as a Word. He had no flesh.

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 CSB)

"The Word became flesh," and when He did, we were able to observe Him. We were able to reside with Him. We saw what God looks like with children on His knee. We saw what God looks like in a storm. We saw how God deals with sin in His temple. We saw how God suffers. We saw how God conquers. We saw God!

I never saw the motion of Christ moving from Word to flesh. What a transformation He went through for us! If God can transform His Son so perfectly into exactly what He desired Him to be, how could I not trust Him to transform me?

We're Those Freaks Who Like Winter

I know that there are many southerners who are currently experiencing something quite similar to winter weather. We Northern New Yorkers also experienced a wee-bit of snow that actually caused school to be cancelled for the first time since we moved here. I'm not sure about exact numbers, but I know that my front steps completely disappeared.

It's warm today, which means we will be getting out and enjoying the winter wonderland God has graciously given us. Edwin helped the girls dig a tunnel through the snow yesterday, and they have new boogie boards that are begging to go down a hill.

Before we get to the good stuff (photographic evidence that my children are, in fact, still alive), I thought that I would throw this little tid-bit in: Since the school parking lot has to be plowed several times a week, the school uses the giant pile of snow for the younger children to play on during recess. They have a number of sleds and boogie boards upon which the little ones slide down the snow drift. Of course, this activity is reserved for warm days. (Warm= 20 degrees or above).

We like to use the cellar door as a mini-sledding hill. Ella is a scaredy-cat, and the teeny-tiny-ness of it is comforting to her, so she can actually enjoy it.

I know that this is a lousy picture, but I just didn't get a good one of DeLaynie that day.

I thought that I should show you that DeLaynie's face hasn't frozen off... yet.