Locust for my Birthday

Today is my birthday. Yippee! The locust swarms should make today memorable! LOL We went to a Jacksonville Suns baseball game last night, so I didn't have a chance to make the locusts. Soooo... I think it'll be a family project and then we'll let them "swarm" (eeewww)- hopefully they won't eat my Birthday Cake!

Umm... do I *get* a birthday cake if I don't make it?

(p.s. No Birthday Cake, but I did get some incredible Dark Chocolate dipped strawberries & apples and the locusts couldn't find them b/c I kept them hidden in their box in the fridge. I managed to eat almost all of them all by myself... Andrew swiped a bite of apple, but I forgive him. *grin*)

What, the hail?!

Today, we had flies, gnats AND dead animals! We had to combine some days since I didn't start on time. :) Aren't you glad the Lord doesn't slam us like that?! Whew! He never gives more than we can handle but always provides a way of escape. Thank you, Lord!

Tomorrow, the weather looks gorgeous... sunny skies with a 100% chance of hail!! I'm trying to decide whether to actually let the children throw ice at each other or what. I mean, just laying ice all over the windowsills is not enough... but hurling ice at one another could go from fun to overboard veeeery quickly. Maybe we'll go to The Loop for some crushed ice!

How else could we "do" this plague? We could eat all our meals cold... nah! Ideas welcome!

Ribbitt... ribbitt...

"But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs." Exodus 8:2

The water-to-blood plague went well today, except that all day long, Timbo would ask if he could drink some blood, which sounds quite disturbing to outside observers. LOL

Tomorrow, the forecast calls for FROGS... and lots of them. Now, one frog can be cute. Two calls for a frog-race. En masse they are admittedly icky, but cockroaches would be too! So why did Yahweh choose frogs? Check this out:

These critters were associated with the annual inundation of the Nile. So they were associated with fruitfulness, blessedness, with a good harvest and were naturally deified. Their "frog goddess" was goddess of both fertility and resurrection. I want you to remember those two because God really sticks it to this goddess; He really puts her down. Fertility, resurrection. You could not, by the way, kill a frog. They were sacred. In fact, if you intentionally killed a frog, you were put to death. In some cases, if you unintentionally killed a frog, you were put to death. Remember that law in light of what is going to happen here, and you will understand the problem they were facing. They could not kill one single frog. (Peninsula Bible Church)

So God (as in the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, not the false god Egyptians called Pharoah) made the very frogs that Egyptians considered worthy of worship into something detestable to them! He alone deserves our worship.

The PLAGUE! The PLAGUE!

So in spite of my best intentions (read previous blog) I forgot to start the plagues on time! LOL So I'll just end up doubling up on a couple. There are 12 (kidding- 10) plagues and only 7 days till Easter, so we'll just combine a couple. :) Tomorrow, we begin.

Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. ~Exodus 7:20

So the children will wake up on a seemingly normal day to find water cups red, red water in the sink, toilets, etc... anywhere there is water, it'll be (you guessed it!) blood red.

My goal in incorporating the plagues into our Resurrection Celebration is to go beyond the Easter Bunny. Why do most parents say they "do" the Easter Bunny & Santa, etc? Because "we don't want to take away their fun". But in allowing our Holy Days to focus on these fantastical characters, are we taking the emphasis away from holy scripture and THE Fantastic God whom we serve?

I propose that parents can (and should) fill our family life with fun and memorable and magical (though true and historical) events straight from the Word of God. It brings the Word to life. Let's find our fulfillment and joy in Him from the youngest children to the oldest granny. Let's celebrate HIM this season.

Guess What's Coming?

I bet you can't guess what I'm thinking... No, it has nothing to do with play dates or politics or vacations or food. Okay, it does have a little to do with food. :) And how you view this event has everything to do with how you engage in politics... But I digress.

Okay, Easter is coming! This is arguably one of the most important days within the church and yet most people give little thought to Easter beyond buying a new dress or maybe an Easter basket. But we should!

I'm a little extra-excited this year because Easter and Passover coincide with each other. The unity of all of scripture was never as clear to me as when we first kept Passover. No, we didn't sacrifice a lamb- I know that was taken care of on the Cross! What I didn't know was all of the other ways Jesus fulfilled OT traditions and prophecies. Like the red ribbon running through the park in this picture, all of scripture points to our saviour and, ultimately, His death for us.

Take some time over the next week to think of ways to share BIBLICAL truths with your children this Easter! I don't mean sticking a Bible Story Book in their Easter baskets (though you can do that as well), but actually looking into scripture with the kiddos and finding your joy and your identity and your family traditions in His Word!

Simple is for GIRLS!

Can you believe Georgia Anne is already 6 months old? Today was the day to take down her cradle and re-do Chris' and my bedroom as a sanctuary. I love it as a nursery but am excited to have an oasis of calm on those busy days.

So my plan was to use a simple wrench to take down the cradle. I enlisted Timbo to be my handyman. You know it's always a great idea to allow the youngest child possible to do a job, so he was my man. He, in turn, asked his big bro to help him find the right wrench. He and Ben returned from the garage with the Mechanic's Toolbox full of socket thingies and the wrench thing that goes click click click when you turn it!! Yikes!

After Ben & Timothy spent 10 minutes trying to find the right size socket, I walked over and picked up a wrench and said, "Why don't you just use this?"

Ben's response? "Daddy said using a socket is easier!"

And when I asked Chris about this, he chuckled, "I'm surprised he didn't use the drill with socket attachment!"

Two words from Mom: OH BROTHER!!

Busy Busy Busy...

You know how life can get. Full, hectic, so noisy you can't hear yourself think... or the Spirit speaking.

My true, earnest and heartfelt desire (and I believe that the Lord has placed this in me) is to learn to quiet my soul in the midst of busy-ness.

This refrain is continually on my mind... and events continually press me to put my faith in action. I am thankful, Lord, for your patience and that you don't leave me in my childishness but continually call me forward. Even holding your hands out to me so that as I fall, repeatedly, you catch me and put me right back on my feet again.