I hosted a Stampin' Up party last night and had a blast! We used the new Pretties Kit, which includes flowers that you can dye, pearls and hat pins. I just had to share the beautiful cards that we made. Hope this inspires you to try something new! We used Baroque Motifs for a few of these cards. A gorgeous set with a ton of possibilities! I am getting this set for sure!

This card uses some of SU's designer papers. They complement each other beautifully and can be used to make a really quick and easy card!

This card is my one of my favorites - I love the dyed flowers!

This one is my absolute favorite. I love the details like the grossgrain ribbon and the designer paper that make this card so beautiful.

Book Sale!

I just finished blogging about my new favorite kid's book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, when low and behold, Gretchen offers a great deal on that very book!

Her bookstore, on the campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is offering The Jesus Storybook Bible for 50% off this week only! Stop on over to her blog and you can order there and she will ship it to you.

In case you are wondering, I bought 5. With the multitude of babies arriving at our church in the coming months, I figured I should be prepared!

IKEA

My first trip to IKEA was very successful and I want to go back! I bought a few things, only one major purchase, but I got some great ideas for decorating and future purchases! Here's the picture of the toy bin I bought for Alli's room and the pictures I framed (about $12 total!) for her room.

Thanks for all the tips everyone gave me. It did take about 4 hours to get through the store. Now all I need to know is how to get IKEA to build closer to home!

Body Piercing

I just read "Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock" by Andrew Beaujon. I was turned on to this book when I noticed it's title on the sidebar of Bob Kauflin's blog. I Googled it and read an excerpt on Amazon and was hooked. Now I'm not about to spend the $12 + dollars to buy it, so I checked my library's catalog (online - don't you just love the Internet!) and sure enough they had it! So a few weeks later I checked it out and began reading.

A quick disclaimer is that the author is a self-described non-Christian. So realize that his views are a bit jaded and his language is less than "holy," but his description of the Christian rock scene is in-depth (historical at times) and very interesting. He struggled getting all the access he desired for this book, but none-the-less gives a thought-provoking outsider's look inside.

Besides detailing the behind-the-scenes of Christian Rock Festivals (Cornerstone, Lifefest, etc . . .), the author scored some great interviews with some of Christian rock's biggest stars. Mind you, if you aren't into the heavier Christian music scene, most of the names mentioned will be unfamiliar, but realize that most young kids who listen to this type of music will recognize almost all of the groups. He also spends a considerable amount of time discussing the modern "worship" movement with it's history and present day stars. When the author first starts to experience worship, he rightly so, feels left out and uninspired. I personally think this speaks to the fact that worship music isn't meant to win people to Christ. It is music written by Christ-followers for Christ-followers. Some of his critique of this genre, in particular, made me angry, because of the truth of the market's incessant drive to make money, and much impressed me. I particularly liked his interview with David Crowder and it caused me to spend some more time checking out his music.

On the other side of that, I was deeply disturbed and angry at some of the interviewees who make music in Christ's name and seem to have nothing to do with Him otherwise. It was an eye-opener to read about some of the "christian" groups out there and reaffirms my belief that you should try to get to know artists before you buy. As anyone can attest, attending a concert can make or break you on a particular artist or band. Somehow seeing them interact with the audience gives you a better glimpse into either their "ministry" or "show." This worked in the negative way when I saw Philips, Craig and Dean in concert and positively when I saw the Newsboys. I'm sure if you ever have been to a concert that you know what I am talking about.

The author made some soul-baring quotes in the book, one of which was this:

“I liked these people, enjoyed their company, and they’d made me feel completely welcome. But it bothered me that I wasn’t a Christian and would never be one. They embraced me like they hope to embrace culture, but I’m still not sure how hard either of us can hug them back.”(p. 137)

Also: "I was on the plane home before I realized that I'd been working on this project for 6 months, and it was the first time anyone had tried to evangelize me."(p.168)

And concerning a David Crowder Band concert: "There was only one star at that evening's show, and he hadn't been onstage at all."(p.245)

All in all, I am glad I read this book. It was revealing and disturbing at times, but necessary. If you are at all interested in the Christian music scene, this is worth your time to read. And if you have a teenager, this would be a great book to read along with them and discuss the author's bias and some of the artist's perspectives.

my 2 cents

I read this article on Yahoo news today and 2 things struck me:

1. The editor speaks of the New Testament as completely true.
2. The editor expects us to accept that any written work NOT the New Testament doesn't have to be truthful.

Interesting . . .

My New Favorite Kid's Book

I have been anticipating 2 deliveries for the past week and a half. The first one was my order from SonLight Curriculum, with some preschool books. I am starting Elijah in "Homeschool Preschool" this fall, on a very limited basis. It really is more for my benefit than for his! I want to teach him to sit still and to pay attention, but also I want to convince myself that I can do this! Even as shortly as a year ago, if asked if I would homeschool my answer would always have been "Dan wants us to, but I'm not so sure." Over the past year, however, I have had some great conversations with homeschooling moms and seen some great curriculum, along with God's work in my own heart concerning my selfishness, and I have turned 180 degrees! Now I am excited about the possibilities and anxious to try it out. I'll have to keep you all posted on how it goes, though. I might be back to where I started in a couple of months!

Ok, back to the original thought . . . My much-anticipated deliveries. SonLight suggests a daily Bible for their curriculum, but I had heard so much about another kid's Bible, that I decided to get that one. I ordered 2 kid's Bibles from Amazon and just got them on Thursday. They are the Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible. I love them both!

First of all, the theology of both is specific, not just a general retelling of Bible stories. Both tackle tying the OT stories to God's overall plan for the world. They explain the sin in the Garden of Eden not just as simple disobedience, but Adam and Eve thinking that there was more to life than God. That maybe God wasn't as good as He said He was. That's just one example of how they handle an OT story. I could go on for pages and pages, but I won't. I will just tell you that these 2 books are the best kid's Bibles I have ever seen (and we have a few already!). In fact, I think it is going to be a staple shower gift for all my friends who are having babies!

If you don't want to buy 2 new kid's Bibles, I would suggest going with The Jesus Storybook Bible. Although I love both, the Jesus Storybook Bible is a bit smaller, easier for kids to navigate and the pictures are wonderful! But don't mistake my recommendation as saying it is "better" than the Big Picture Story Bible. They are both great and every library could benefit from both!

One More Camping Story . . .

Sorry, no picture to go with it, but too funny not to post! Remember the bike Elijah got for his 3rd birthday? Well, he was riding it around the campground as I followed him and a cute little girl, probably around 4 years old and wearing a bikini, stopped and stared at him.
"I really like your bike" she said.
Elijah just stared back.
"Where did he get it?" she asked me.
I encouraged Elijah to answer her question.
Elijah just stared back.
So I answered and we went on our way.

A couple of days later, Elijah was again riding his bike around the campground, this time with Dan following and they once again ran into the cute little girl. She smiled and said "Hi" to Elijah.
Elijah just stared back.
Dan encouraged him to say hello back, but
Elijah just stared back.
As they walked away, Dan asked Elijah why he wouldn't say hi to the cute little girl.

His reply was, "She was SO, so cute."

Who knew that his bike would be such a chick magnet? :)

Camping Pics

As promised, here are the pictures from our camping adventure: Alli is happy, no matter what the weather! She is enjoying all the attention from her Grandma!

This is me reading and scratching my head. I did a lot of reading - not much else to do while it rains! Actually, it was nice to be able to read an entire novel while on vacation. I don't have a lot of time to devote to that much reading at home.

*Seriously, this is only 1 of 2 pictures of me from the entire time! Trust me, otherwise I would have chosen a better one!

Dan's brothers Tim and Mike, sister-in-law Jennifer, and Grandpa all on the trail of a geocache. If you are not familiar with this, it is basically a scavenger hunt for the age of technology. All it takes is a GPS device and you are ready for fun! The guys did a few of them, but didn't have much to contribute to the stash, so it was mostly just for the bragging rights of being able to find one.

Elijah's favorite pastime, riding on Grandpa and Grandma's tandem recumbent bike. Grandpa does all the work and Elijah just gets to enjoy the ride!

Elijah, hiking up a considerable hill, searching for the geocache with all the big boys. I think he could live outdoors. He had an absolute blast camping and has been talking about going again since we came home!

All in all, we had a lot of fun, despite the rain. We are hoping for better weather next year, though!

Busy Week

Wow. It is finally Friday and the end of a VERY busy week. I have been meaning to post pictures of our camping trip, and once again, I have been too busy to get around to it. I will try to do it today or tomorrow.

Also, I have not forgotten that I need to post about the last 2 sessions of NA, with John Piper! Except now I am far enough removed from the sermons that I must listen to them again before I can adequately post my notes and make them make any sense to you or me! Now I just have to figure out how to import the (free download!) sermons from my hard drive to my iTunes. That will take my husband's help, no doubt.

In other news, I will be making my first trek to IKEA with my very pregnant friend, Sarah. I am so excited! I've seen their catalog and friend's pieces that they've bought, but never shopped their myself. We are making a day of it - I'm even getting a babysitter so it is just us! So all of you IKEA fans, you have until Tuesday to tell me what to expect. What are some pitfalls to avoid, what MUST I buy, what food do I eat?

Give me your thoughts!

Home

We are home now, and you can tell by this picture what I will be filling my time with over the weekend. This is what comes after 5 days of camping in the rain.

By the way, I found Alli posed this way while I worked around the house. I guess she thought it was a suitable, comfy place to rest. Camping wore us all out!

Time Away

We are heading out of town tomorrow for a family vacation "up north." (We Wisconsinites love to go there!) So, the blog and my email will be a bit quiet for the next week, for sure. Hope you all have a great week and I'll try to post pictures of our camping when I get back!

Lies My Teacher Told Me

I just finished the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. Lent to me by my friend's daughter who had to read it for her American History class, I admit that I felt a bit silly reading it. I shamefully admitted to her that I don't know a lot about recent history (Vietnam to present) and she recommended it. Boy, am I glad she did!

The first 10 chapters are a revisionist historian's take on some of our most prized national heroes. Columbus, the Pilgrims, Woodrow Wilson, and Helen Keller, are all blatantly heroized in the top 12 history textbooks, according to the author. He devotes these chapters to tell, not the "true" story of these characters, but the controversy that each historical event entails. He asserts that history is not just facts and faces, but involves complex stories that compelled these heroes to act as they did. He fills the reader in on some of those details, as well as presenting some of the conflicting accounts of how they really behaved. One of his biggest complaints about our nation's textbooks is that they present only one side of every story and then call it "fact." They never divulge the conflicting historical accounts of why or how exactly situations came about, and thus strip all the controversy, and consequently the excitement, out of history, causing students to disregard the subject all-together.

He speaks to the Euro centric bent in all the textbooks that effectively disenfranchises students of color and how most books present every action the USA makes as honorable and good, and how we, as a nation, are always doing things for the good of the world, instead of showing the human depravity (he doesn't call it that!) of every government, our great one included. One caveat, the author is probably agnostic at best, as evidenced by his addition of "[sic]" to every reference to God as "He." In understanding this, any discerning reader will see some of the author's own preconceptions as he deals with slavery, race, and social class.

I must admit, I learned a lot from this book, and would recommend it to anyone who feels shortchanged in their American history education. I don't endorse all the author's viewpoint, of course, but the book made me think and definitely made me consider the wrongs that were done to the American Indian and to the African Americans during slavery and the civil rights movement. It educated me more on the Vietnam war than I ever learned in school and prompted some great discussions between Dan and I as I shared what I was reading. If you enjoy history, you will benefit from this book.

***As a side note, if you are familiar with SonLight homeschool curriculum, this book is included in their Core for highschool American History.

Controvery

I'm not writing this post just to stir up a controversial subject, but I would really like to know my reader's response. So please let me know what you think!

I've heard this sermon a lot: the whole topic of the "general will of God" and "specific will of God" for your life. General will is found in Scripture, specific will is unknown and should be sought out.

Here is my question: For those of us who would wear the label of a cessationist, how are you supposed to know the specific will of God for your life? I've heard answers of "feeling peace" and "Scripture will show you" but if I'm asking God's will for a job decision, how is Scripture supposed to answer that one? And more importantly, why do we trust a feeling of peace, but we wouldn't trust a dream or vision? Are we guilty of being overbearingly inconsistent with our theology? I can see why some would defect to the continualist's camp. They seem to be more consistent.

The reason I bring this up is because of a series of messages my own pastor has taught dealing with this exact topic. And I was visiting another church recently (out of town - not church shopping!) and heard the traditional, fundamentalist view of the will of God. I'm curious what you all believe. Should we be trusting our feelings to know God's will? Or is it possible that there isn't one perfect job (or college, or spouse . . . you fill in the blank), but that God works His sovereignty through our decisions and we aren't called to know a "specific will of God" for our lives.

Please let me know what you think. And if you are one of the guys who I know lurk here, I want to hear your input, too!

Happy Birthday, Allison!

I cannot believe that a year has passed and my little girl is already 1! This week has been full of celebrations with grandparents and friends, cake and ice cream, presents and giggles. She now has 2 dolls, a doll house and loads of new clothes. What more could a girl ask for?

Happy birthday, my little missy moo. Thanks for the joy you bring to all of us, including your big brother! We are blessed to have you and we love you, always.

Summer Strawberries

One of my newly favorite summer traditions is picking strawberries. I had never heard of picking them yourself until I moved to Wisconsin. It seems like this is a favorite tradition of many of my friends and acquaintances! I was able to go 2 years ago with my then-neighbor (and friend) Angela, but last year I was 9 months pregnant, unable and unwilling to go. My good friend Suzy surprised me with fresh-picked strawberries just days before I gave birth to Allison, and so I set about making jam with the precious few that I had.

This year I was able to go by myself. Dan stayed home with the kids and I left shortly after waking. It was warm already at 7:30, and the day promised to get warmer and more humid. It was good to start early. After a short drive and an even shorter tractor ride, I was in the middle of an immense field of ripe and ready-to-be-picked strawberries. It took only about 20 minutes and only about 6 feet of plants to fill my flat and I headed back to pay.

After arriving home and deciding all that I wanted to do with my fresh strawberries, I started to worry that I should have picked more. (I picked over 11 pounds!) But once I prepared 4 batches of jam and made 2 strawberry pies, I decided that the remaining berries were the perfect amount to enjoy for snacking and on cereal for the coming days.

So summer is officially here, with the taste of sweet, juicy, wonderful strawberries. What do you enjoy as a summer tradition?

*picture provided by Ernest von Rosen, www.amgmedia.com

The Life and Labors of George Mueller

I finally finished reading "The Life and Labors of George Muller" written by his wife, Mrs. Muller. I became acquainted with the book when our church hosted Jim Ellif as a conference speaker and he highly recommended it. George Muller never overtly asked for money for his orphanages, only allowed donations to come from people by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. In his lifetime, he fed, clothed and housed over 10,000 orphans, and believes to have seen over 50,000 prayers answered. This is a mighty prayer warrior from which many of us could learn.

That being said, the book is written by the late Mrs. Muller, and it has an air of antiquity in the language which made it more difficult for me to read. It didn't seem to "flow" as some other books do and it's tendency to go from one historical account to another in a chapter made it harder to follow the chronology of his life. Don't get me wrong, it is filled with valuable lessons from a godly man, but it won't top my "must read" list. A more contemporary writing of the same princliples can be found, in my opinion, in Randy Alcorn's book, The Treasure Principle.

New Attitude, Session 4

The last session on Sunday was taught by C.J. Mahaney. I have read a few of his books and have been blessed eternally by the ministry of his wife and daughters over at Girltalk, but I never had the opportunity to hear him speak, so I was really excited.

First of all, my impression of him can be summed up in one word and one of his book titles: humility. He started the evening session off with an extended honouring of the conference hosts, Josh Harris and Eric Simmons. He was gracious, humble and sincere. And funny! As Al Mohler commented earlier in the day, "If you ever hear someone say, 'Lighten up, CJ,' you know the end is near!" He is a godly man who is a perfect example that Godliness is not only displayed as serious.

His topic was on idols. He commented multiple times that he was only preaching to us what he has learned and benefited from other speakers and writers. But he was passionate about the topic. He loved the topic and you can tell that it has changed his life.

He started out by saying, "Idolatry is the most frequently discussed and most frequently condemned subject in the Bible" and listed a whole bunch of passages to make his point (see Ex.20:1-2, Rom. 1:21,25, I Thes. 1:9, I Cor. 10:13-14, Col. 3:5). He defined idolatry as any substitute for God, including good gifts from God that we desire more than Him. We have to be able to discern our idols, which are evidences of the remaining sin in us. He exhorted us to use Scripture, the Holy Spirit and the church (i.e. preaching of the word and friends) to help us identify and root out our idols.

He then parked on 2 sources of idolatry: The test of prosperity and the test of adversity. Both can cause us to focus on our circumstances instead of God. He then gave a list of x-ray questions that we can use in searching our hearts for idols (can be found here). I am already familiar with this list of questions from our Bible Study on How People Change by Paul Tripp. It is an excellent tool.

He ended the sermon with 3 signposts of grace in a believer's life: fruit in identifying idols, growth in Godliness, and growth in gratefulness to God and His gift of the Cross.

We missed CJ's last session on Tuesday morning, as well as Eric Simmon's sermon on Monday morning. So I only have the 2 sessions with Piper to post on. It might take me a few days to adequately write what I learned from Piper's sessions, so the last post in this series may be delayed. I will most likely post on other topics before, so don't think I am done!

New Attitude, Session 3

The second session on Sunday featured Al Mohler as speaker. I have benefited greatly from Dr. Mohler's ministry, who is the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where our good friend Gretchen is employed and her husband, Josh, is a student. I am most familiar with Dr. Mohler from his blog, which handles current issues with such clarity and Biblical truth it excites me! He is incredibly wise and isn't afraid to speak unashamedly about what God wants in the midst of many controversies. It seems he is the evangelical "go-to-guy" for shows like "Larry King Live" and I have never once felt embarrassed as he acts as our spokesperson. In case you can't tell, I really respect him and was very excited to hear him speak!

He was incredibly witty and had the house pealing with laughter on many occasions. He was engaging and informative, but, unfortunately, very hard to take notes on. And I'm not the only blogger who said this! But I still greatly appreciated his talk and benefited from his wisdom.

His topic was was Discerning Culture and he gave a great picture of what it is like to be submersed in our culture. He appealed to an analogy from Aristotle, who said the worst being to ask about what it is like to be wet is a fish. It's all he knows, he can't describe it. And that is how we are with our culture. It is such a part of who we are and how we think, it would be ridiculous to try to withdraw completely (after all, what would we wear or drive?) and it would be equally silly to jump in without any thought (it is a system with an agenda and we can't assume it is amoral).

It all comes down to Matthew 23. We have to love God and our neighbor, who is probably entrenched in the culture, as we are, to an extent. We have to filter our culture through God's Word and realize that we are not bound by what the culture tells us. We are fish in toxic water and we need to learn how to discern our culture and still swim to the Glory of God!

New Attitude, Session 2

Sunday morning started bright and early, although Laura and I skipped out on the community groups to eat a leisurely breakfast and work out. We arrived at the Convention Center early to get decent seats (which became like a game in the subsequent sessions) and looked forward to hearing the morning's speaker, Mark Dever.

Mark is the senior pastor at Capitol Hills Baptist Church and the author of "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church." I just recently became aware of his ministry through T4G and because I have some MBBC acquaintances who have interned at his church. I figured he would be good, but since I had never heard him speak, I didn't know what to expect.

What I got was about an hour of jam-packed practical advice on primary and secondary doctrine. Which do we separate over and which can we lovingly disagree on and still cooperate together? It was fascinating and informative, the session on which I took the most notes. There is no easy way to summarize everything he gave us, so I'll just give you the few things that affected me most.

He defined the 3 things that are primary: (I copied this from Tim Challies - he had better notes than I!)

We must agree upon three things in order to put our trust in God and be saved. God, the Bible and the gospel. We have to believe in the one true God—that He is one, that He is triune, that He is uncreated, that He is morally perfect and that He is the one we are called to believe in. There are theologians today who speak of “anonymous Christians,” of people who believe in no God or in another God. But the Bible does not support this. We have to believe that the Bible is how we know the truth of God. How do we know what God is like? Because He has revealed Himself in Scripture. We must believe the gospel. The good news is that Jesus Christ became incarnate. Without this understanding we couldn’t uphold the truth of God’s triune nature. We also confess his substitutionary death on the cross, of His resurrection and His impending return. We are made right with God by faith alone, by trusting in this Jesus. Someone who does not believe in this gospel is not a Christian. Calling yourself doesn’t make you that, so even though many people consider themselves Christians and call themselves by Christ’s name, they cannot be truly saved unless they believe this.

He gave a 4 fold test for any issue:

1. How clear is it in Scripture?

2. How clear do other's think it is?

3. How near is it to the Gospel?

4. What would the effects be doctrinally and practically of allowing disagreements to occur? (this is where our conscience can play a role.)

*Some of the Scripture he used included: I Cor. 14:1-5, Acts 15:36-41, and Rom. 14:22

He then took 4 test cases to hold to the test: the Millennium, prayers for the dead, egalitarianism and complementarianism and cooperation in evangelism.

The one that made me think the most was the debate about egalitarianism and complementarianism (woman's roles in church). He explained why he (and T4G) doesn't separate over baptism, even though he is a Baptist, and why they do over egalitarianism. His answer was simple and profound. We have over 5 centuries of paedo baptists who have done great work for the Kingdom, and have taught us great things about God and our faith, all the while being faithful to Scripture. Unfortunately we only have about 50 years of egalitarianism and in that short time the movements that champion this stand have done much to undermine Scripture.

That explanation made a lot of sense to me, as did Mark's whole session. It was a blessing to hear him.

New Attitude, Session 1

In the first session, the speaker was Joshua Harris. You may know Josh from his book, "I kissed Dating Goodbye" and the follow-up, "Boy Meets Girl". Amazingly enough, Josh was the speaker I have known of for the longest amount of time, since his dating book was very popular when I first started college. I have long respected his God-centered stand, but it wasn't until about a year ago that I realized he was now the senior pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg. C.J. Mahaney primed him young to take over the church and he seems to have moved into the position well.

He was, by far, very easy to listen to. He was hip and relevant, funny and sincere. I felt like he was most comfortable addressing this age group, but I am sure he does fine with the older crowd, too!

The theme of the weekend is always "Humble Orthodoxy" with an emphasis this year on Discernment. Josh introduced the topic by stating the importance of having discernment and the fact that you can't live humble orthodoxy unless you can separate the good from the bad. So really, discernment is a matter of life and death!

I laughed when he started expounding on the idea by suggesting that if only we had warning labels on music, tv and movies, even other Christian books. Like if we went to the local Christian book store and picked up a bestseller and found on the inside of the beautiful jacket, "This book has about 80% of great Scriptural truths. They will help you live by the Spirit's control and will cause you to grow in grace. However, there is still about 20% of errant theology that may very well lead you astray from true worship of God. This 20% can be found in chapters 2, 11, and 13." Wouldn't that be great? Unfortunately, we all know it doesn't work that way, so we are left with a need to be discerning.

Then from Romans 12 he outlined what it takes to be discerning:

1. It requires resistance. "Do not be conformed to this world . . ." This can sound easy when you are in a group of 3,000 people who want to honor God, but it gets a bit harder when you are back in your school or workplace and all of a sudden you look like a geek for not doing all your friends do. I loved the line he said, "When rock stars are non-conformists, it is cool. When Christians are non-conformists, we look like idiots."

2. It requires renewal. We can't live discerning lives without renewing our mind on a daily basis with God's Word. It can be hard work, but we have to constantly be reviewing what we know to be true to counteract what the world would have us believe.

3. It requires action. We can't sit back and just say we are discerning, we must act accordingly.

4. It requires the gospel. I love that this is a recurring theme with Sovereign Grace Ministries. We cannot be discerning without first realizing how it was even made possible, by the cross of Christ. Discernment should make us more humble because we realize that it is only by the work of Christ that we can have new eyes and new hearts to see and savor that which is right and good and to reject what is wrong.

One tidbit that I took away from this message was the idea that we need to proclaim this truth not as people who are right but as people who have been rescued. There is a true humility that comes with the gospel. And for me, I realize this is something on which I need to work. Too often I champion truth as an arrogant person. I so sincerely desire to be humble and meek in my walk with Christ that this message was an important one for me to hear.

Once again, remember that you can download all the sermons for free from the Sovereign Grace website.

I'll post again soon on Mark Dever's message.

Overwhelmed

I returned home yesterday afternoon from the Na Conference, tired but refreshed, overwhelmed but grateful. I would like to post in the coming days what I learned from each session, but I kind of just want to give you my overall impressions from the conference first.

When we first arrived in Louisville, we saw groups of kids (umm, sorry, young adults) who were obviously there for the conference. I instantly felt old and unhip and started to question why on earth I would come to a conference for singles and young married people. Because let's be honest, after almost 8 years of marriage and 2 children, you don't feel young married anymore. But anyway, Laura encouraged me that it wouldn't matter how old I was once we were there and the conference started, and I must admit that for the most part it didn't.

The first session was Saturday evening with Joshua Harris as the main speaker. They did a lot to introduce the conference and said silly things like "make sure you get enough sleep." Like you have to tell me that! I was just excited to have 3 nights without a toddler waking me!

The music was a bit overwhelming at first. Very upbeat and exciting, and while I have no problems with it, I felt like all the songs were new and everyone was raising their hands and I'm not used to doing that. But my attitude soon changed when I saw the genuineness of everyone's worship and I quit having the judgemental attitude and started to truly worship myself. I did tell Laura that first night that I couldn't have a song service like that every Sunday and then by Tuesday I wished we did!

The speakers were phenomenal. This is what caused me to go to the conference in the first place. And it wasn't about being single or young married. It was solid, Biblical teaching about our culture and how to interact, when to separate, what obedience pleases God, etc. It was outstanding and each session left me overwhelmed with what I had heard. Thankfully the Na website will spend the next couple of months dissecting what we heard and making it manageable for us to apply it to our lives. I will visit there often, and you should check it out too! All the sermons will be available to download for free, so it can be like you were there, too!

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I would like to post in-depth about each session, so check back in the coming days to read my thoughts. I know my chicken-scratch notes won't do each sermon justice, so if you want in-depth analysis, you can check out 3 blogs that live-blogged each session. The best is Tim Challies (which, by the way, had I known he was there I would have tried to meet him) but you can also read Alex and Brett Harris at Rebelution or the staff at Boundless' take on the weekend.

Louisville, Here I Come!

Just a quick note to ask you to pray for me this weekend. I am attending the New Attitudes Conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries in Louisville, KY. I am going with my good friend Laura and leaving Dan and the kids at home. Normally, I don't think I would be bothered by this, but I am just getting them back from my parents after a week away, and I'm not sure I'm ready to leave again!

Even so, I am looking forward to hearing the speakers, including CJ Mahaney, John Piper, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and Joshua Harris. It's not very often that we lay people get to hear such a line up!

Pray that my heart is open and I don't get caught up in the excitement of it all. I am easily distracted and I want to be quiet and contemplative. This is the first time I have been able to take an extended break and really have time alone with God. Pray that I don't squander the time. And if it isn't too selfish, pray that we are wise traveling, what with traffic and all, and the fact that we will probably be talking a lot!

AND, I get to see Gretchen! Can the weekend get any more exciting?!?!?!

Favorite Granola

I absolutely love granola. I would eat it every morning if it weren't so expensive and fattening! Well, a good friend of mine, who has a large family, makes her own granola and shared the recipe with me. After making it only once, our family was hooked! In fact, I will be gone this weekend and I am making a batch that Dan can enjoy while I am gone. I thought you might like the recipe, too:

Debbie’s Best Granola

Dry Ingredients:
6 cups oatmeal (quick cooking or old fashioned)
½ c. slivered almonds
½ c. coconut
½ c. chopped walnuts or pecans (pecans taste better)
½ c. whole wheat or all purpose white flour
¾ c. brown sugar
¾ t. salt

Wet Ingredients:
½ c. honey
½ c. oil or ¼ c. oil and ¼ c. applesauce
¼ c. water
½ t. vanilla extract
½ t. almond extract

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine all the wet ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly with a wire wisk until the oil, water and honey have combined. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix by hand. Place in a 9x13 pan or a large jelly-roll pan. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Granola is done when it is starting to brown at edges and starting to get dry. Take out and stir. Let cool and then store in an airtight container.

*I have found that the granola will still look a bit damp after an hour, but will continue to bake out of the oven. This is a great starter recipe. Customize it however you like! You can add any dried fruit to it and use it as cereal or a topping to ice cream.

Home and Away, Again

We just returned from a lovely overnight stay in Door County. Trying desperately to utilize every minute of our time without children, we planned this 24 hour trip in about as much time! We stayed at the Brittania Bed and Breakfast in Algoma. This is actually where we honeymooned, but it was under a different name and different owners. It was fun to go back. We passed the restaurant where I was served raw (yes, I said raw, not just undercooked) chicken cordon blue and it was closed. Our hosts said they had gotten food poisoning from the same eatery, so it's a good thing they are out of business!

We had the most interesting breakfast companions Tuesday morning. We all gathered to eat in the B&B's dining room and started introducing ourselves and telling a bit about our lives. Their were 2 other couples, probably about our parent's age, and between the 4 of them, all college professors! We had a man who taught ancient languages, including Greek and Hebrew and Sanskrit, his wife (who monopolized all the conversation) taught some sort of history, including religious history, and the other couple taught education training and philosophy. After we discovered the similar professions, it started a very involved discussion into religion and philosophy and students and the apparent influx of children who are more conservative than their parents and are searching for a real religion. Dan and I sat, dumbfounded. Especially after one woman commented on "fundamentalists who can't open their mind at all."

So I ask you, what would you have said? We politely listened and at one point mentioned to the guests that we were Bible College graduates, highly involved in our church, and quite familiar with a "fundamentalist" upbringing. All of a sudden, the tune changed. The one lady who who made the fundamentalist comment started back peddling and saying things like, "Oh, we are highly spiritual, we just don't go to church. We draw from Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism. In fact, I think spirituality is important, it's all about community." It was almost comical to see how she changed her mind so quickly.

Now, keep in mind that these are strangers to us. We shared a short breakfast with them, and that is all. We don't know them or have a relationship with them. What should we have said? We excused ourselves shortly thereafter to enjoy the waters of Green Bay with our boat while we had the chance and we wondered what the conversation was like after we left. Did they regret saying such hateful and stereotypical things about Christians? Or did they laugh at our naivety for adhering to such a silly belief system?

Who knows, but to be honest, I don't think we were the ones guilty of being close-minded yesterday morning.

Time Away

My parents are wonderful people. We had previously arranged for them to have Elijah until the Memorial Day weekend when we go to their house, and they decided they could take Alli, too! So yesterday morning they left with both my babies and Dan and I went into overdrive. We went on a long walk with Sadie, came home to shower, left to go to Home Depot and Lowe's, came home for lunch, left to spend the afternoon on the boat, came home to eat supper, and finished our day out at the mall. Whew! What extra time we must have wasted when we didn't have kids!!!

So here is a pic of me in the boat. It was only the 3rd time she's been out this season and it was a great day for her. We tried a new lake and had a blast exploring all the inlets and admiring the beautiful homes on the lake. Someday we want to live on the water, but until then, we will be content enjoying it for the afternoon.

Today promises to be less crazy. We must paint our master bath with the paint we bought at Home Depot, and then we will install some new light fixtures. I hope to be able to post the before and after pictures in the coming days.

Off to work on my projects! Have a great weekend!

Mother's Day

I woke up to a glorious Mother's Day. I was fast asleep when I faintly heard the fan being shut off. It was odd, because I didn't even know Dan was up. Then a small voice whispered in my ear, "Happy Mother's Day." I didn't open my eyes right away, I was still a bit disoriented from being woken from my REM sleep. So after a short moment passed, again I heard, a bit louder this time, "Happy Mother's Day!" I opened my eyes to see Dan, Elijah and Allison, all standing there with breakfast and my coffee on a tray and bearing a present. What a great way to be greeted!

After we all cuddled in bed for a few minutes, and I had eaten my breakfast, I opened my present. It was an iPod! I was so excited! I never thought I would use an iPod, but I bought Dan one for Christmas, and since then have been very jealous. I have never asked for one, but I have asked Dan to purchase songs from iTunes and I have been known to steal it from him. It is nice to go on trips and listen to our whole catalog of music without bringing a ton of CDs. We are hoping to get a docking station so that I can listen to it while I work around the house, but until then, I will use it whenever I can!

I have already been online getting acquainted with iTunes. Dan presented the gift with a gift card for iTunes, so I have already started spending! I love being able to purchase just one song that reminds me of a special memory. It keeps me from having to buy a complete CD that, upon further inspection, isn't a great investment. iTunes also gives a free 30-second sample to make sure it is the version you want. Isn't technology great?!?!

In the future, after I have had some more time to utilize it, I will post what I've been listening to. Until then, I hope you all had a great Mother's Day, too!

Copyright Question

All fellow bloggers,

Where do you find your non-copyright pictures for your posts? I was just contacted by a photographer whose picture I had used in my last post. Apparently I am not able to use just any picture that comes up on google images. This is news to me. So I am wondering where the best websites are to use royalty free pics to make my blog look pretty! Let me know what you use!

And to make sure that I am compliant with all copyright rules, I am using a picture from my own collection. Enjoy!

This is my sister-in-law (on the left) with her friend showing off their coffee mask. Cute, huh?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died -

more than that, who was raised -

who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

ProLife Articles

If you have the chance, spend a few minutes at Al Mohler's blog and read the first three articles he has written this month on abortion. As usual for his writing, they are outstanding. After reading him on a regular basis, I am still amazed at his ability to cut to the heart of the matter, and these three articles are no different.

And, if you can stomach it, check out what John Piper had to say about the recent Supreme Court ruling concerning partial birth abortion. It is graphic, but some things need to be.

Cross Centered Scripture

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become

the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21