Trying to Keep Up!

Well, summer is in full swing. With four kids home full-time, I am finding it tough to get the "regular" missions accomplished. But, we are getting into a good routine. I have to admit that the first couple of weeks were tough. Everyone seemed to be at each other's throats; I think that everyone was trying to find their places again. For example, Raegan was used to being top dog, but she found herself shoved to #3 all of a sudden, and I'm pretty sure she didn't like the fact that she wasn't in charge anymore. :)

One day, it all came to a head with the three older kids threatening to do things to each other that are definitely not o.k. I was so thankful that God came to the rescue. After some cool-down time, He gave me these verses as a renewed vision for the kids. (I do have to quickly admit that these verses challenged me just the same. You'll see what I mean!)

I grew up with this one: Ephesians 4:32. "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Here was a new one: Philippians 2:3-4. "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." It seemed like there had been countless fights over who got the front seat in the van, who got the best piece of pizza, who got the best _______________. This verse challenged all of us to "Put Others First"! This is our new motto, and it has been transformational!

And finally: Philippians 2:14-15. "Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. . ." We want to be lights, look different than the messed up world, because we ARE different with Jesus in our lives. Too often, we just get in the way of His work in our hearts.

I really wanted to record these so that we don't forget this lesson. Really, any success of the summer is because of God's transforming work in our lives. I love that and am so thankful for it.

Here are a couple of fun scenes from the past couple of weeks. Our sweet friend, Elias, had his first birthday!

Can you tell that Isaiah LOVES Elias?

On May 31, we got to help welcome Duncan home from Uganda!
We are so excited for the Neill family!!!

First summer picnic! (You can see our smashed bushes in the back. We had baseball-sized hail the night before, and it stripped most of our plants/trees!)