Bowling with our friends!

I took Caleb and Luke bowling last Saturday morning while our Daddy was studying. Caleb loved it and really got into it. Luke just got into trouble. We had a great time, but it would have been better if our Daddy had been there.

(he did get an A on the test he was studying for though!! we are SO proud of him!!!)

These ramps were SO great for the toddlers and really got that ball moving. 

Caleb LOVES to bowl! 

Caleb was very careful with his bowling ball. 

Here he is watching hib ball roll down toward the pins. 

Luke was in charge of the score board! 

This was his sweet face EVERY time that bowling ball went down the lane. (check out those shoes!!) 

Mark 8:11-13

Recognizing God’s Presence

Jesus had just miraculously fed the multitude, yet the Pharisees demanded more signs, more miracles. Like them, we sometimes fix our hopes on miraculous events; our ship to coming in so that all our financial woes would disappear in a moment, or our wheelchair-bound friend getting up to walk again. Jesus is just as able to do those things as he was to feed the five thousand, but what about the fact that the sun rises each morning or that God has given us new birth into a living hope through what Jesus did on the cross? Aren’t those things manifestations of his miraculous power?
We see signs of God’s presence everywhere: in a bank of daffodils, in the encouraging words of a friend, in the gentle rain, in the ways he provides all we need. We don’t need a miraculous sign – we just need Jesus! Ask him to help you to recognize anew the ways in which he is with you, for you are never outside his Spirit, who lives in you. Ask him to give you glimpses of his nature and character wherever you go and to turn your heart toward him in gratitude. (from the One Year Book of Praying through the Bible)

WE NEED NEVER TO SHOUT ACROSS THE SPACES TO AN ABSENT GOD. HE IS NEARER THAN OUR OWN SOUL, CLOSER THAN OUR MOST SECRET THOUGHTS. (A.W. Tozer 1897-1963)

Sweet Little Bear! 

" She got the camera out - I'm gonna hide!" 

"Maybe if I ignore her she'll go away!" 

"WHAT already! You're interrupting the Master!" 

The Old Wicker Coal Basket

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this old wicker coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "Yau will have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the old wicker basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was "impossible to carry water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See, Papa, it's useless!" "So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket." The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old wicker coal basket, it was clean. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out."

Moral of the story: Take time to read a portion of God's word each day; it will affect you for good even if you don't retain a word.

(A friend of mine sent this to me and I thought that it was wonderful!!)

Mark 5:18-19

(This is something I read today and thought that it was a great reminder!)

If you have become part of the story of God, then you have a story to share with the people around you. They are eager to hear it. They are dying to hear it.
-Leighton Ford

Fear vs. Faith

FEAR IMPRISONS, FAITH LIBERATES; FEAR PARALYZES, FAITH ENCOURAGES; FEAR SICKENS, FAITH HEALS; FEAR MAKES USELESS, FAITH MAKES SERVICEABLE - AND, MOST OF ALL, FEAR PUTS HOPLESSNESS AT THE HEART OF LIFE, WHILE FAITH REJOICES IN ITS GOD.

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969)

Winter Storm of '06

They kill me up here. The snow plows and trucks were out a good 24 hours before the snow came, scraping -I mean shoveling the snow (that hadn't even fall at that point!). There was a mad rush at the grocery store and no bottled water to be found. They closed the city down for the day to get the roads plowed and even though they were plowed canceled school for the next day. All for what Minot ND gets on a regular basis.Good new is that today it is in the 60's!!

while Caleb and Titan are all but in the street 

Luke Bear isn't sure he wants to venture out past the driveway... 

The Mad-Alaskan shovels snow in a tee shirt. My neighbors made sure to come out for this one! 

Our trip to the National Cathedral

We went with some of our friends to see the National Cathedral. It was beautiful, amazing and definitely not a place to take the kids for a playgroup!

I like to think Caleb was staring at Jesus on the cross contemplating and thanking God for the sacrifice of his son as an atonement for his sins...
 

...whatever it was it made him break out into dance...

...and more dance!!!

Caleb & Luke with some of their friends. 

Charlie and Caleb had been looking for baby Jesus since we got to the Cathedral. 

The stain glass in the National Cathedral is amazing. 

Caleb got in trouble by one of the Cathedral guides for touching this statue! I should have been paying attention rather than snapping pictures! 

Superbowl meal! 

Luke Bear looks so big here! 

Above are some pictures from Superbowl Sunday. Caleb was SO excited to watch the game and both my boys were running around the house with their footballs and tackling eachother.

Here's the little "ant-eater" or at least that was what he was calling himself that day. He wanted to go to our favorite kids activity center dressed like this. I almost gave in...so close, but couldn't go through with it! 

Caleb is licking mommy like a dog 

Luke Bear has been working on eating with a fork. So far, we stab the food and then he LOVES putting it in his mouth!