Saturday, January 29, 2011

City Museum

On Thursday we went to the St. Louis City Museum with our homeschool group.
I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few...

The sponge room- who ever thought that sponges could be so much fun? :)

Knut & friends working on a fort


 Isn't that amazing??

Bjorn helping

Cecily's house

Papa made arrangements for Mom to get to play the big theater organ in the Enchanted Caves. She brought some of her music and announced an organ concert at 11:00!

Rosemary thought the organ was amazing! 

Gloria and Bjorn climbing

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Distractions and Worship

Josh here -

In September 2010, I posted about our family Bible Time. I believe that this kind of thing is one of the most important things a family can and should do.
However, not only are there things that a family should do, but there are things a family ought not do. Consider these scriptural commands and how they ought to be applied to our lives:
- We are to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14, 1 John 2:15)
- We are called to be "holy" and "perfect" (1 Peter 1:15, Matt. 5:48)
- We are to avoid every kind of evil (1 Thess. 5:22)

So therefore, how should we act in our daily lives? Should we look at things arouse greed, covetousness, lust, envy, or other sins? Should we listen to things do that? Should we participate in activities that do that?

Ravi Zacharias was once asked about how he dealt with his own temptations, and he went on to talk about 'worship.' I didn't understand what he was getting at until years later when I considered Col. 3:17: "And whatever you do, whether in thought, word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." In church on Sunday, everything we do is focused on God, and that is true worship and this verse. However, this verse assumes we always do everything in that manner, as our daily personal worship. I believe that anything that does what it was created by God to do gives glory to God. Even a tree declares God's glory by growing and reproducing as God intended (Psalm 19). When we do what we were created to do, we also worship. When we fail to do that, then we either cease to worship or (as I think is probably more correct) we begin to worship something else other than God. In other words, we're always worshipping, but it's either God or ourselves.

If everything we do is a form of worship, then should we spend time watching junk on TV, listening to raunchy music, spending countless hours filling our heads with sports trivia, participating in activities that don't glorify Him, or buying things for ourselves that are merely entertainment? We all ought to consider how much time and money we spend on 'stuff' and 'entertainment.'

Does that mean we should get rid of the TV? In our family, we have chosen to do just that. Certainly there are some things worth watching, but with such a host of other things to do, we've chosen not to do TV at all. We have a TV, but we can only watch DVD's and videos. We allow ourselves one movie a week for the family, and it's often something from the black-and-white era. We don't listen to rock or pop music (and we don't think much of the majority of Contemporary Christian Music) but rather listen to music that is either more complex in it's composition (such as classical, romantic, baroque, etc) or more folk like (such as hymns and other folk music). We are careful about who our kids spend time with, we don't let them play video games (except Knut is allowed 1/2 hour a week on a lego game he really enjoys), and I'm sure there are a great many other things about us that fall outside of the normal worldly family.

Now, I'm not trying to brag about what we do, nor saying that we are an example to uphold. (indeed, I left out things that I know I ought to change) Rather I mention these things to give you an example of things to consider, and think about how and why you do some of the things you do in your family. We're all on our journey to being more and more holy as we grow in our walk with the Lord, and that's what it's all about.

May God help us all to remove the many tempting distractions in our lives so that we may be closer to Him, and worship Him in all that we do every day of our lives.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Bright Lights Photos

 The booklet

 Looking up a Bible verse


Sorry about the bad photo quality; I'm not good at taking pictures and laughing at the same time. :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

'Bloopers'









I hope you appreciate the great struggles I go through to get decent pictures. ;) 

Photo contest

I'm participating in a photo contest with the topic of 'love' hosted at http://www.livingforhim2.blogspot.com/! This is one of my favorite blogs that I read; Lauren Anne is a great blogger! Although I've never met her in person, I feel as if I know her through her blog posts. She is a great photographer as well as blogger, and captures the beauty of God's creation so well.
My entry:

It's a little weird... siblings do NOT like to do exactly what they're supposed to. My next blog post will have some examples of earlier attempts. Get ready for a good laugh. :D

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Snow!

Our trip to the St. Louis City Museum was postponed for a week due to snow! I can't say that I am very disappointed, and although my siblings are impatient to go to the City Museum, they still love having snow.
Especially Thor. :)



Rosemary

is becoming more of a talker every day! She can say:
Hi
Mama
Papa
Yaya (Sylvia)
Cessie (Cecily)
Goia (Gloria)
Bye-bye
Okay
Yes
Uh-oh

She's our little happy sunshine with an adorable little giggle! She loves to run and run and RUN all over the house, but she's always ready to snuggle and give hugs.

She also likes to climb stairs, but unfortunately she can't crawl down them yet- she can fall down, though. Baby gates have never worked for us, so when she heads up the stairs, we try to make sure someone's behind her ready to catch her in case she falls. She's learning to wait at the top and call 'mama' or 'yaya' or 'hi' when she wants to get down, instead of trying to do it herself.




Tuesday, January 18, 2011

'Stuff'

My 'excuses' for not blogging lately...
1. I'm sooo busy with, uh, school.
2. I've been working on a slideshow of photos from our time in Florida.
3. Um...

 
I'm sorry! I'll try harder to remember to post often, or at least convince other family members to do it once in awhile. :)

 
Random news...
  • Knut and I had drama auditions for Lyceum yesterday. We're waiting to hear if we have been chosen for parts or not!
  • The SCCCHE group is taking a field trip to the St. Louis City Museum next Thursday. We're really looking forward to it!
  • I've switched Science curriculums for the third time this year... it looks like I'll be switching again in two weeks. :)

 
Random photos...
 

 
 

 
Other than the first picture, these are all from Florida. The last one is one of my favorites. :)

Sunday, January 09, 2011

December decline

Josh here-

I've been having some interesting times the past few weeks. As a church musician, December is a hectic time of year with rehearsals, performances, concerts, services, extra musicians, singers, lost music, no-shows, busy volunteers, etc. Put a full-time handyman job on top of that (with customers who want their jobs completed before Christmas), a large family on top of that, and give it to a naturally lazy and selfish guy like myself, and it's a recipe for disaster.

I usually get rather stressed and short-tempered during this season, and therefore sin also creeps into my life more so than usual. It's my goal to be in the Word of God every single day, but I usually miss a couple days each month, with December being one of the worst ones. That's such a shame, because that should be one of the best times of year for a Christian. Of course there are worse sins than that I've committed, but I'm glad to report that I have an accountibility partner who will hear me confess these sins tomorrow morning at 7:45 in addition to the confession I made to God this morning during communion at church. (We Protestants could learn a thing or two from the Catholics in this area).

For years I've wanted another man to 'sharpen iron' with, and a few months ago I was dopeslapped into realizing the perfect person for the job was already there. I came up with a list of questions in areas for which I wanted to be held accountable, and so each week he asks me those painful questions.
I'm pleased to report that in a couple areas progress has been good, but in some areas the progress is neglegable. My "December decline" this year was not as bad as it has been in years past, and I've certainly had more joy in my life, but growth takes time, and the important thing is that I've begun the hard process of "confessing your sins to one another." It's great to have a good brother to help me in my moral struggles.

Perhaps the best thing is the realization that no matter how bad my sin, God has enough love to forgive it. His mercy is everlasting, and even though my guilt tends to drive me away from God, He still pursues me in love. When I repent, that glorious newly-washed, lovely feeling pours over me and I marvel that I didn't repent earlier, or even why I sinned in the first place.

In our Family Bible Time, we're reading in Nehemiah about how Ezra read the Book of the Law to the people, who then began weeping. The next chapter tells of their repentance, then of their joy, then of their renewal of the promises to follow God. What a perfect example of how we in our daily lives should behave. Read the Word; Weep over our sinfulness; Repent; Rejoice in our forgiveness; Renew our covenant.

I hope that you who read this do this regularly. If you're not a Christian, (or worse, think that you are a Christian but don't live it), then I would strongly encourage you to dive deep into the Bible and "make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10) and to "examine yourself to see if you are in the faith" (2 Cor. 13:5). Our sin not only makes us feel guilty, but it carries a punishment as well, and it only takes one little sin to send us to Hell. But God is loving, and will forgive us if we repent.
Get yourself a Godly friend with whom you can confess your sins (it doesn't have to be mutual - my buddy has his own accountability partner), and be brutally honest with them and with God. Accept His forgiveness, and as receive the "joy of salvation" from the Lord.
God Bless you all!

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Random Photos

We drove back to Mascoutah yesterday, so I'm not too 'busy' to post! Some of these pictures are mine; some are Grandma's. She and Grandpa are stopping over here for the night, then driving on home to Billings, so I made sure to get her pictures!

 'Stair-sliding' on a piece of cardboard and a pillow... Knut's, Ethan's, and Thor's latest idea

 Isaac

 Wrestling

 Christmas gifts

 Sweet cousins

 Uncle Noah and Ethan

 The new one-year-old at the beach

 Cecily

 Rosemary and Sylvia feeding seagulls

 By the pond in back of the house, looking for alligators :)

 Sisters

 Cooking

 'Christmas'

 New aprons

 Three princesses in a castle

 Rosemary playing with Isaac's new remote control car

 Playing cards... I'm winning, of course
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