Auntie again!

Malachi Philip was born August 5th and looks a little like Barney Fife--wrinkled brow, puffy eyes, but super cute. This week Neil and Kristia spent way too much time in the ER: Malachi (nicknamed Mac :o) had a fever, and was tested for spinal meningitis, but was diagnosed with a virus--but only after 3 days of "hurry up and wait." The night they got home, Jesse, Neil and Krista's 3rd, swallowed Tiki torch oil, and Poison Control told them to go to the hospital. He's totally fine, but that night he threw up and had a fever, causing more concern, but he simply caught the same virus that seems to be floating around, taking its turn in all the youngins.
Not a great picture, but the only one with me holding him.

Figured out the picture thing!

It took a bit, but I finally got a picture added! I'd add more but it took too long (slow internet?) Here's one of the favs of Katie's pictures.

I think I have a Love-Hate relationship with sanctification...

I've been thinking a lot about sanctification lately. For most of my life I've prayed that the Lord would sanctify me, conform me more into Christ's image, etc. and felt like, "Man, as soon as the Lord answers my prayer, I'll finally have this Christianity thing down pat!" Funny. God's not done fully answering that prayer until Heaven. Shoot! Because I'll never be done being sanctified--in this life--I'll never have this Christianity figured out! But as the Lord likes to remind me, walking with Jesus is only partly about the destination (total sanctification); the other major part is the journey of becoming more like Christ.

This has been on my mind because marriage has totally opened my eyes to what sanctification actually looks like day in and day out. I think I've learned more about sanctification and seen more of it in my own life in the past 4 months of marriage than in 25 years of being single. No joke. Cuz now there's not only someone to be affected by sin and bad habits, but there's someone to point them out too... That's why I love and hate sanctification. It's really cool to see the Lord answering my prayer through marriage, but man alive it stinks to stare my crud in the face and have to deal with it. And I actually have to deal with it because if I don't my relationship with my husband suffers--especially if he confronted me on an issue!

Something I've been discussing with Gina (and God...) is the motive behind my desire to be sanctified. I don't want my sin to affect Brad. One of the big reasons I get my rear in gear is because if I don't he suffers for it, which means we both suffer, which means our communication suffers, etc. The question was posed, "Do we hate our sin because it affects those we love, or do we hate it because it displeases God?" *sigh* The question of the century. What if my answer is because it affects loved ones? I want the answer to be because it displeases God, but sometimes it's not... Maybe I need to change my prayer up a bit... Maybe my prayer needs to be that I would hate sin and therefore desire sanctification.

I love sanctification because it's a clear sign that the Lord is moving and working, and heaven knows I need some of that. I love it because I have listen closer, see clearer, and pay closer attention. I love it because it makes me a better woman, wife, friend, daughter, servant. Hmm. And on the not-so-sacred days, I think those are the exact reasons I hate it...

2nd Attempt

So of course on the day when I'm going to sit down and figure this blogging thing out the internet is ridiculously slow. Brad says it's my computer... So instead of trying to figure it out I'll just post something.

Tuesday (yesterday) is Jr. High youth group, and I came away encouraged by a conversation I had with a high school staff member. We start our night joined with the high school, which is nice cuz then we get to see our 8th graders that have moved up to high school. This staff member was noticing how well all the high school girls seem to get along and have "clicked" really well. But, she had noticed that one of the new 9th grade girls seemed to have a bit of a harder time transitioning. Being one of my former students, I immediately felt sad for her. But then I remembered her early days as a jr. higher. Man alive was she different then! She was quiet, reserved, held back, never wanted to be a part of the group... It was like pulling teeth to try to talk to her, much less attempt to minister to her! But by the time she left us this summer, she was loud, boisterous, always contributing, and definitely a key member of our little youth group. I was excited to be able to share this with the staff member, if only to recount the faithfulness of God.

I just thought of this just now, but Brad had just talked about using the past as assurance for the future--based on how God has moved in the past, we can know how He will respond in the future, and in this we can trust Him and have hope. In the same way, I've seen God work in this student's life in dramatic ways--it's literally a night-and-day difference--and because of this, I know that God will continue the work that He started in her (Phil. 1:6), even in the new and scary setting of high school. I mean, seriously, how often do you get to see such obvious and dramatic fruit from jr. highers!? What a blessing!

Okay, so here goes the newby...

I really don't know how to do this, so here goes nothing. This will be a trial run, and we'll see what happens next. It took me a while to figure this out, and all the options are not where I thought they would be, but hey, I found it, I chose my font and my color!