Category: Family

Andrew's fourth birthday is today. As I've usually done, I put together a slideshow of pictures of Andrew from the past year.

I was a little late putting Isaiah's video together, but I finished it this week and posted it here.

Two summers ago I planted one strawberry plant in the backyard. Now there is a patch of strawberries about 4′ x 8′. Andrew loves strawberries and has been waiting for the berries to turn red.

I just wanted to update you on what we know about moving. We don’t have all the details arranged, but we’re making progress.

We’re aiming to make the move the last week of May/first week of June. The goal is to be packed up before we leave for Phoenix on June 1. We’re still making arrangements for moving our belongings. I got an estimate from a moving company today, and we’re still trying to find other alternatives.

Next week I will be flying to El Paso to look for a place to live. Right now I’ll be primarily looking for a place to rent until we find a house to buy. I’m pretty sure that we will purchase a home in the near future, and the market seems right for it. But it’s not something we want to rush, either.

We’ve started the packing process (Sara’s done more than I have). What’s really amazing is how many things I find that I can really get rid of—even after just three years. Besides the physical packing, there’s also a lot of things I have to do to wrap up loose ends here. I need to hand off  things that I’ve been working on. I need to make sure the right files and records are left in the right place or the right hands.

And then there’s the most difficult part of saying good-bye. I haven’t had to say final good-byes to anyone yet, but the initial discussions have been hard. When I’m talking to people about my departure, there are two things that I want to say (but it’s usually hard to say without becoming emotional). The first is just how much I’m going to miss this place and (especially) the people here. But at the same time I don’t say that in the sense that I’m going to wish that I hadn’t left or was back here. I’m looking forward to what is ahead, and in that sense I’m not looking back. But it is hard to say good-bye to so many kind and wonderful and supportive people. I’m going to write something more about this later.

The second thing I want to express is how much of a privilege it has been to serve here and how grateful I am to have been able to do so.

Last week we took a trip to southern California. I attended a preaching workshop in Santa Ana on Monday and Tuesday and we stayed with my sister Becca. On Monday we spent some time at the beach and on Wednesday we took the kids to Disneyland. The preaching seminar was helpful. It was great to spend time with my sister. And the kids had a great time. Below are links to the sites I have pictures posted. Take your pick.

.Mac Web Gallery
Flickr
Picasa Web Albums

On Saturday afternoon we walked to our neighborhood park for a few hours. It must have been exhausting, because soon after we got home, we discovered Andrew like this on the chair.

Hannah turned 5 on Wednesday. So I managed to put together a slideshow of pictures from her birthdays and from the past year. I’ve uploaded it to our .Mac Web Gallery and to YouTube. Enjoy!

I remember growing up having a rule (sort of) about no singing at the dinner table. We don’t exactly follow that rule in our house. Here’s Lydia singing at the table last night.

You can also watch the video here.

I just had a couple of observations about Christmas gifts this year. The first is regarding the kids’ presents.

One memory I have of Christmas as a child is how the Christmas tree always seemed to get swallowed up by the presents surrounding it.  It always seemed like such an abundance of presents. Of course, it had to be a lot when you have a family of seven. But here this year we opened some gifts on Sunday evening when Nana and Grandpa were here. We opened stocking gifts on Christmas Eve. And even at that, there seemed to be so many of them. And most of them were for the kids, who would usually be perfectly content to go and play with the first present they open. In fact, one of the first gifts we opened was a toy for Isaiah. All of the kids were immediately drawn to it and we had to pull it away so we could get on with the unwrapping. What I’m getting at is how the kids receive more than they can possibly comprehend (and certainly more than they need).

I think I understand what that’s like though. I’m now thinking about the gifts that we have received from the members of our congregation. It’s just hard to comprehend such generosity. It’s more than we need. It’s so much more than what we deserve.

In that sense then, our gift-receiving at Christmas is not that much different than Christmas itself. Think about it, who could really grasp the full weight and value of the gift given? "A Savior has been born to you." Can we even begin to comprehend what that’s worth? It’s so much more than we deserved. Can we understand what would lead God to be so generous as to give his only Son? It’s just so overwhelming.

We have a lot of books at home. Lots of kids books. And naturally, we also have our share of Christian children’s books—mainly Bible story books. The USA Today had an article on these kind of books a couple days ago. I thought that it made some very interesting observations, which we might forget sometimes. Consider this: "every Bible storybook reflects a certain theology" (Ted Olsen, managing editor of Christianity Today). Unfortunately, much of the Christian children’s literature widely available today reflects a theology that is not in line with the message of the Bible. I’ve noticed these very things in so many of the books that are in the stores or that have come into our home one way or another.

Some of them simply miss the real point of the Bible stories (For example, the feeding of the five thousand: "A boy shares his lunch" Is that really the point?). Or they focus so much on what we are supposed to do and give very little emphasis to what Jesus did for us.

So here’s my suggestion: If you are buying Bible books for children, please read them first. If you aren’t sure what to look for, ask your pastor to show you. A very good series of books for children is the one mentioned in the article, the Arch Books series from CPH. They’re inexpensive and generally, very well written.

Also, here is a link to a radio segment dedicated to children’s bible story books.
"Christian Children’s Books" on KFUO