A Morning Prayer

O God, the Author of all Good, I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events. I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nothing, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe. Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error, my affections from love of idols, my character from stain of vice, my profession from every form of evil. May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing, and in which I cannot invite thy inspection. Prosper me in all lawful undertakings, or prepare me for disappointments; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain. May every creature be made good to me by prayer and thy will; Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians. And to thee be the glory. (Puritan Prayer)

Sent to me by a dear friend who knows exactly how to cause me to lift my eyes heavenward.

Reading Material

In 16 days we'll be boarding a plane for Mexico. I have finally decided which books I am taking along. Here is the list:

~~King of the Cannibals: the Story of John G. Paton--Jim Cromarty
~~Tears of the Desert: a Memoir of Survival in Darfur--Halima Bashir
~~The Mystery of Providence--John Flavel
~~Parenting by God's Promises--Joel Beeke
~~Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy --Eric Metaxes

I am assuming I will not be finishing all of them, but I do have a well-rounded set of books that should satisfy my general cravings I have at different times. I am excited! I am also looking forward to long walks along the beach, playing a little volleyball and hanging out in the ocean. All in all, it will be a nice time to recharge the batteries.

Renos, School, and Quotes

There never seems to be a shortage of material to write about in this household. Today, thus far, has gone well. I have implemented a mandatory 30minute reading time in the morning before breakfast since the kids always seem to get up before me, making my personal reading time difficult to do at times. So between 6:30 and 7:00 all children who are up must sit and look at a book quietly. It is a much better way to start the day.

I managed to put up the baseboards in the bathroom today. I am unhappy with the colour of paint on the wall (yes, I put on 2 coats anyways) and I think I will be repainting. Otherwise, the bathroom looks GREAT! The only thing left to do is buy a shower curtain and scrub the whole bathroom down.

I was also able to put together next year's curriculum. I am satisfied with what I have. I will need to find Paul some good Kindergartin material. I am thinking Horizons Math (since I love that program for my other kids), Learning to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and Canadian Printing Book A. I would like something hands on for Science yet. That may require a trip to the Education Station in Edmonton.

I also want a good Bible history program. I'm not sure what yet. Some ideas that have crossed my mind are studying the historical significance of every book of the Bible and labelling the books (major prophet, gospel, minor prophet, Pentateuch, etc). Another idea is to go through the book 'Reformation Heroes' by Joel Beeke. Anyways, that is still in the air.

We'll be adding Spanish this year too, using Rosetta Stone. This is completely new territory for me so the learning curve might be a little steep.

This may be boring to many of you, but there's life in a nutshell. I am going to tackle some laundry and tidy up the house before my hubby comes home from work. I'll leave you with 2 quotes from my 2 oldest.

Eric (reading the math problem in his mathbook): "Elizabeth's teacher told her to take six thousand, seven hundren thirty-four away from nine thousand, nine hundred seventy-six. What should be her answer? .....Mom, that's not really my problem. It's Elizabeth's.

Me: Lindsay, do your Math.
Lindsay: But moooommmmm...I'm hardly working!
Me: Exactly.

Waxwings

This afternoon I was off doing errands with Lindsay. I heard the story once I got home.

While I was gone, a huge flock of birds descended upon our huge pine tree, located in our front yard, directly in front of our living room window. Paul noticed them first and immediately alerted Eric--the bird expert in this house. As soon as Eric saw the birds he casually informed everybody that those birds were waxwings...in fact...they were cedar waxwings. Honestly, I would NEVER have known that!!! I was super impressed that he could identify a less common bird upon sight. Then, sure enough, he pulled out his extensive bird book and proved it to us. Not only did he correctly identify the bird, but he nailed down the particular species too. That boy amazes me. He LOVES birds and has obviously studied them and his book a great deal. Great job son!

Courtney

Lord, you have blessed me with such a beautiful girl.

Wisdom from Thomas Goodwin

Here is a piece that I read a few weeks ago that made a terrific impact on me. Take your time reading it.

"I have, by long experience, observed many holy and precious souls, who have clearly and wholly given themselves to Christ, to be saved by him his own way; and who, at their first conversion, as also at times of disertion, have made an entire and immediate close with Christ alone for their justification; who yet, in their ordinary course and way of their spirits, have been too much carried away with the rudiments of Christ in their own hearts, and not after Christ himself....

And although the use of our own graces, by way of sign and evidence of Christ in us, be allowed us by God, and is no way derogatory from Christ, if subordinated to faith, as so as that the heart be not too inordinate and immoderate in poring too long or too much on them, to fetch their comfort from them, unto a neglect of Christ, yet, as pleasures that are lawful are unlawfully used, when our thoughts and intentions are too long, or too frequent, or too vehement in them, so as to deaden the heart, either to the present delighting of God or pursuing after him...

And yet, the minds of so many are so wholly taken up with their own hearts, that, Christ is scarce in all their thoughts. But let these consider what a dishonor this must needs be unto Christ, that his train and favorites, our graces, should have a fuller court and more frequent attendance from our hearts than himself, who is the King of glory."

--excerpt from the introduction from "Christ Set Forth" by Thomas Goodwin.