I Love Good Theology

As a teenager, I was not mature, but growing up in a good church and with good theology presented to me in confirmation and through my parents helped me to recognize when something was not quite right. I recognized something was not right at a youth camp that I attended with a youth group in high school. The special speaker at the camp gave a week long Bible study on the Blessings of obedience and Curses of disobedience laid out for the people of God, the Israelites, in Deuteronomy 28. The main thesis was, "Obey God and you will be blessed. Disobey God and you will be cursed." Jesus Christ was never mentioned except for perhaps during an altar call to invite people to be saved. At least that much was preached, which is a wonderful conclusion to an otherwise empty message . What should have brought us to realize our totally sinful nature and our utter depravity thus bringing us to the rich mercy offered to us in Christ, was instead a moralistic, hopeless teaching for Christian youth that completely missed the mark.

Yesterday I heard Dr. R.C.Sproul teach on the theme of blessings and curses in the Old Testament and how Jesus took the curse that was due us because of our disobedience. Dr. Sproul explained Galatians 3:13 which states, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' )" There is a biblical theology that is understood through studying the whole book of the Bible, and can be completely missed through moralistic or legalistic preaching. Without a Christocentric, cross-centered, biblical theology, our "Christianity" has no hope. We will continue to go on living in condemnation and legalism and hopelessness. Let us return to Christ.

I encourage you to listen to this rich teaching and be blessed: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/renewing-your-mind/player/blessing-or-curse-223619.html

A full rainbow appeared in the sky during the sunrise this morning. This is looking out past our neighbor's house towards the west. Peter John noticed it out the window just as we were about to eat breakfast, and we all made our way out into the chilly morning to praise God for it. The kids snapped the photographs.

The Garden

It has been a productive year...not quite as much as last year, but I am still grateful. We had a raspberry bumper crop, and now the cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans have been steadily flowing from the garden, to my counter, and into glass jars for canning. I have been canning pretty much anything I can get my hands on. So far, I have pickled beets, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, three-bean salad, canned whole tomatoes, and peaches. I also froze a lot of rhubarb and green beans. Today I have been trying to strain the juice from these bags of chokecherries that Ethan and the two oldest kids picked in North Dakota. The juice takes a long time to strain in the jelly bag because it is very pulpy. I finally finished this evening and have about a gallon of juice that I placed into the freezer until I can pick up some Sure-Jell and sugar to make jelly and syrup.

The carrots do not seem to be growing, so I am not sure if any will come out of the ground this year. Much to my children's delight, one of the zucchini plants died. The other one sort of died, but then revived, and has since produced one zucchini. Another zucchini is growing, so we will see what we can squeeze out of that sick plant. The tomatoes have spotted leaf fungus again, but according to my neighbor, Harley, this fungus gets into the soil and will never go away. The only way to get rid of it is to rotate crops, but because I have a smallish garden, there is not room to move the tomatoes to another location. I still have gotten many, many roma tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes, despite the dead leaves. Praise the LORD for that. God is good, and He will provide.

School's Starting!

I have four very bright children who are (sort of) eager to begin school. One of my kids was thanking God tonight for school, but when it was bedtime, the anxiety started setting in as well as the complaints. I tried to give some motherly exhortation, but I am afraid I was a bit short because I wanted this child to go to sleep rather than talking and keeping the others up. We will see how it goes. As I grow and mature, I am realizing more and more the need for a strong relationship with God through prayer.

As I prepare for homeschooling again in this town, I realize that my expectations for what would be this year are quite different from God's plans. I honestly thought we would have moved by now and we would be starting our lives in a new ministry. But as always, our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and I am peacefully embracing God's will for staying put at the moment and beginning another year homeschooling here. I am content with the fact that God is in control. The biggest perk of being here is the School of Choice that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. We had our mom's meeting last week, and I began to be so excited for the material that the teachers and I will be covering both in school and in homeschool. One of the fun lessons will be a missionary biography presented by the co-op teacher every three weeks that will correspond with the historical time period we will be studying. Adoniram Judson is the first missionary, an amazing persevering Christian man in Burma whose story has brought me to tears after hearing John Piper speak about his life. How Few There Are Who Die So Hard is a very honest look at a man who persevered through tremendous suffering for the sake of the Gospel in Burma. Our teacher will use this missionary to correspond with the time period of the Civil War at the beginning of our American History unit this year. We will cover the Civil War to present times in history this year. I especially look forward to all the wonderful material on WWII, a favorite topic of my husband's, who was a history major in college. This is the fun stuff, the facts, that our kids LOVE.

The basics that require practice and rote memory do not appeal to my kids, and we struggle through them. Math facts, spelling, and handwriting are sometimes a "teeth pulling" experience. I pray for great creativity and perseverance in teaching these subjects this year. I am grateful that God has provided some great materials for these subjects. Just last week, I received two free handwriting books, one for Peter and one for Gretchen. These were some things I really needed. Now I am praying for another need, that I trust God will provide in His special way. Let's roll!

Look At 'Em Beans!

I finally got the beans blanched and frozen today. This will not be the last day of doing that this summer. Amy was my wonderful helper!

Ribbons!

We had so much fun at the WOT County Fair last week. Last year my friend, Angie, told me about an opportunity to earn money by entering items into the fair. Angie's kids have entered for many years and won several ribbons. We decided to give it a try, and the kids and I all entered some of our hard work into the Open Exhibition where they give ribbons and awards to the first, second, and third place in each category. The kids entered several of their artwork pieces as well as woodwork, legos, and sewing (Gretchen). For the first time ever, I entered some of the crochet pieces I have done as well as fresh vegetables from my garden. I also entered two of the preserves I have made this summer: pickled sweet beets and rhubarb jelly. We were so surprised by the results!

Wednesday was the official day to enter all your items. It was SO hot that day (about 95 degrees and humid). The lady at the counter who received our items told me I did not enter some of my vegetables correctly. For example, for yellow beans, you must have 10 beans to display, and I had only 5 beans. I decided to go home and return later with the correct number of vegetables and the proper way to display. I had to cut off the green tops of the onions and the greens off the beets. After some more work, we returned, and all was entered. If I ever enter again, I will know a little better how things need to be done, and I will remember to bring plates to display them on! (I forgot this year and had to borrow from the fair ladies).

Here are the results from the items we won ribbons on. Gretchen and Peter John were in the same category for age. Lizzy and Amy were in another category together for age (up to age 7):
Gretchen -
blue, apron sewing
blue, Father's Day poem
blue, watercolor
red, colored pencil drawing
white, Sacajawea poster

Peter John -
blue, woodwork
blue, pencil drawing
blue, colored pencil drawing
blue, freehand painting

Lizzy -
blue, pen drawing
blue, pencil drawing
blue, finger paint
blue, watercolor
red, crayon drawing
red, marker drawing ladybug poem
white, freehand painting

Amy - She entered only one item and was so proud to receive a red ribbon for her pencil drawing!

Elysia -
blue, crochet baby poncho
blue, crochet infant sweater
blue, crochet baby afghan
blue, fresh beets
blue, canned rhubarb jelly
red, crochet baby booties
red, canned sweet pickled beets
white, beans, yellow
white, crochet baby bonnet
white, white onions

Hot Days

We have spent the last two days escaping the hot, humid weather at my mom and dad's air conditioned house. Our friend, Connie, is visiting from Minneapolis, so it has been a great reason to hang out at the Frank's house for an extended period of time. Yesterday the older two kids swam in the river below Mom and Dad's house along with their friend from next door. The two little girls swam on the deck in Grandma and Grandpa's kiddy pool. Perfect! Peter John was also obsessed with trying out his new pellet gun. I think Ethan started the obsession because for the past month he has been "hunting varmints" with his shotgun out at my folk's house. Peter John bought a pellet gun the other day, so he has been enjoying target shooting and trying to get pesky 13-lined ground squirrels. Ethan's persistence paid off. Tonight he shot two rabbits in one blow, which we got a picture of tonight. It has been an enjoyable weekend playing games of Scrabble with my mom and Connie, and doing crocheting with the ladies while Granny was knitting in her chair. Great summer fun!