Super Hero Party and a Hair Net

We went to a Super Hero Party this afternoon and we took along Flash Gordon, Robin, and Super Grace...poor MG has no super hero costume of her own, so she wore a mask and we hooked a baby blanket to her shirt for a cape. As we were leaving the party, Robin was turned to stone by the music of the ice cream man tinkling throughout our neighborhood! He was literally frozen in place and could not move until he saw the truck! So, Daddy got out some cash & let the kids get a treat...a very rare treat since the ice creams are $2 a piece!

Little super heroes ready for a party!

Double the super power!

Wes and MG enjoying their cake!

Pretty super heroes

The boys enjoying Batman ice creams and MG having a bunny

JC modeling his hair net from our Publix tour yesterday...

Forgiveness

I have often said, 'I forgive you,' but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still wanted to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return--if only the praise for being so forgiving!

But God's forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking. It is this divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life. It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments. Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive. -- from Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen

...forgiveness is an act of faith. By forgiving another, I am trusting that God is a better justice-maker than I am. By forgiving, I release my own right to get even and leave all issues of fairness for God to work out. I leave in God's hands the scales that must balance justice and mercy....Though wrong does not disappear when I forgive, it loses its grip on me and is taken over by God, who knows what to do. Such a decision involves risk, of course: the risk that God may not deal with the person as I would want...I do so because the Gospels make clear the connection: God forgives my debts as I forgive my debtors. The reverse is also true: Only by living in the stream of God's grace will I find the strength to respond with grace toward others. --from What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

Pharisee

pharisee - a sanctimonious, self-righteous, or hypocritical person. (dictionary.com)

I have recently been convicted of how pharisaical I am in my own life. How quick I am to judge others that don't think the same way as I do. How I tell my children to be kind to one another and in the next breath, I'm impatiently yelling at them. How I angrily judge nonbelievers for their unwise choices...when it is only by the grace of God that I am changed. I don't think it is a coincidence that I am reading through Romans right now. This is what I read this morning:

No One is Righteous

What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:

'There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.
The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.'

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Rom 3:9-19)

Grace

The gospel is not at all what we would come up with on our own. I, for one, would expect to honor the virtuous over the profligate. I would expect to have to clean up my act before even applying for an audience with a Holy God. But Jesus told of God ignoring a fancy religious teacher and turning instead to an ordinary sinner who pleads, 'God, have mercy.' Throughout the Bible, in fact, God shows a marked preference for 'real' people over 'good' people. In Jesus' own words, 'There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous person who do not need to repent.'

[Jesus' parables]... were not merely pleasant stories to hold listeners' attention or literary vessels to hold theological truth. They were, in fact, the template of Jesus' life on earth. He was the shepherd who left the safety of the fold for the dark and dangerous night outside. To his banquets he welcomed tax collectors and reprobates and whores. He came for the sick and not the well, for the unrighteous and not the righteous. And to those who betrayed him--especially the disciples, who forsook him at his time of greatest need--he responded like a lovesick father.

I know that my self-image at the end of the day depends largely on what kind of messages I have received from other people. Am I liked? Am I loved? I await the answers from my friends, my neighbors, my family--like a starving man, I await the answers.

Occasionally, all too occasionally, I sense the truth of grace. There are times when I study the parables and grasp that they are about me. I am the sheep the shepherd has left the flock to find, the prodigal for whom the father scans the horizon, the servant whose debt has been forgiven. I am the beloved one of God.

Excerpts from What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

The Valentine's Day Massacre

We had friends over this afternoon for a Valentine's Day Monkeyball Tournament--we jokingly called it the "Valentine's Day Massacre." The kids had a blast playing in the backyard while the adults rotated playing monkeyball. We ordered pizza and ate some yummy chocolate cake! Kevin also won the entire competition--whoo hoo! And I actually won a few games too!

The Three Amigos!


This is my favorite--little brother JC is loving being a "big boy" and hanging with the older boys

This sweet girl had a special request to have a picture made in the playhouse!

The traditional picture of the winner kissing the m'balls--Kevin finally had a turn to win!

Valentine's Party

We had a fun Valentine's Party this morning with friends. The kids had lunch, played, made a cute place mat, and exchanged Valentine's Day cards. It was a lot of fun for the kids and the moms! We are so thankful for our friends!

Grace

Right now I'm reading What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancy. I could not have picked this book up at a more perfect time in my life. I thought this was good and had to post it:

Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God's unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people...We read, we hear, we believe a good theology of grace. But that's not the way we live. The good news of the Gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions.

In the opening of his book, Yancy shares a story from one of his friends that works with the destitute in the Chicago area. This friend was confronted by a homeless and sick prostitute who had no money to buy food for her two-year old daughter. This woman was in a wretched state and through sobs and tears related how she had been renting out her daughter to men for sex. She was making more money that way than prostituting herself. When he asked her if she'd ever thought about going to the church for some help, she looked at him with naive and raw shock and said "Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse."

I thought the prostitute's response was very revealing. Often the church is misunderstood by outsiders who think they have to have their "act together" before coming to church. And certainly not all churches lack grace...I have experienced grace time after time within the church. It seems so easy for us to accept the grace and forgiveness of the Gospel in our own lives; yet, when it comes to extending it to others (like the prostitute), we recoil in disgust and judgment. Our own Bible recounts story after story of Jesus hanging out with prostitutes and the worst of sinners, but so often we lack the same humility and grace as Christ. It is easy for me to forget it is ONLY by the grace of God that my life circumstances were different from the prostitute. Had things been different, I could have made the same horrible decisions in my own life. Oh, how I need to remember that truth on a daily basis!

Sort of Camping Out

We got a wild hair last night when we were burning leaves in the backyard--we wanted to cook hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire! So, today Kev ran out to the store and picked up all the stuff to cook out. It was too windy to burn leaves. The wind kept swishing burning leaves up into the air. We didn't think it would be a good idea to catch our neighborhood on fire, so we resolved to building a fire inside one of our cook pots. It actually worked great and it was a lot of fun. Now me and the boys are itching to get out and go camping! We just have to work on convincing Daddy! :)

MG getting leaves for the fire

Smores! YUM!

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Holy Batman, We're Finished with Kindergarten!

I can not believe we have been officially homeschooling for over a year! We finished our Kindergarten curriculum last week and have started 1st grade! Woo hoo! As a reward for a job well-done, we gave KK a new Batman costume. His old one is tattered and worn from him wearing it almost daily! He was very excited that his new costume also has "muscles!" JC was excited that he got the hand-me-down costume, so they can now be Batman together. :)

Goldilocks

I took the boys to see the play Goldilocks today at our local children's theater and it was so cute! It was JC's first play and I think he had a lot of fun sitting on the front row with friends. The play was a different twist to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I was pleasantly surprised that the theme of the play was applicable to our daily life--respecting other people's things and obeying. We had an incident in Wal-mart this week where both boys caused a mess in the store because they disobeyed and touched things without asking, so I think the play reinforced what we're all learning at our house this week! And there was repentence and forgiveness at the end of the play as well!

The play began with Goldilocks getting into her mother's jewelry box and playing with her father's guitar--both items she was told not to touch. She ultimately breaks one of her mother's favorite earrings and a string on her father's beloved guitar. Goldilocks then decides it would be best if she took a walk in the woods to avoid the consequences of her misbehavior. Alone in the woods, her curiosity continues to get the better of her when she takes a baby bird from his nest and also takes acorns from a squirrel's home. She is scolded by the animals and returns the baby bird to it's mother and also the acorns to the squirrel.

Goldilocks continues on her way to mischief by entering the Bear Family's home without knocking. I loved that the Bear family in this story has been chosen to be on a reality TV show! The producer's voice pipes in over the speakers every now and then to give the impression they were being taped 24/7. As the traditional story goes, Goldilocks eats the porridge and breaks baby bear's chair. However, her identity is caught on tape by the reality show and baby bear becomes a sleuth to track down Goldilocks and confront her with the error of her ways. When she is caught by the Bear family, she is truly remorseful and asks for forgiveness. The Bear family forgives her and encourages her to return home and confess her misdeeds to her parents as well. I loved that we were reminded of how to be good stewards of other people's things...not to take something without asking and not to touch without asking either! A good reminder for me as well--how often I don't respect or take care of what God has given me!

The boys slipping on stage for a quick photo!

A Masterpiece!

KK and I got the paints out this week and worked together on copying a Monet painting (insert hysterical laughter here!) While we were busy with our masterpiece, MG was busy with some artwork of her own...body art!

The finished product...

Convicting!

Love this Song!

Party Time!

Our sweet friends invited us to a Super Bowl Party this weekend. The kids had big fun playing games. The excitement started with Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and then moved on to a Football Training Race where the kids had to run to run and touch different chalk lines and back. Then they had a Football Muscle Race where they stuffed their shirts with balloons to see who had the most "muscles." We enjoyed yummy chili, hot dogs, apples with homemade dip, chicken wings, spinach artichoke dip, and topped it all off with some "football" cupcakes! The Daddys stayed and watched the entire Super Bowl...I'm sure they were able to focus on the game more after the wives and kids left! Thanks again for inviting us sweet friends!!!

Enjoying popcorn

Gearing up for "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes"

In position for the "Toe the Line" Race

Muscle Race

Papparazzi

Enjoying "football field" cupcakes