This Past Week

...offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace....But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Rm 6:13-14, 22

My slow read through the Bible finds me in Romans. I was excited to get there, for the book is just crammed full of deep and wonderful doctrine and great encouragement. I think Romans and Hebrews may be my favorites in the New Testament. There are many verses and sections in Romans that I have to re-read and think about.

I pray for the grace to offer my body (my life) to God as an instrument of righteousness. I'm surely no good at this on my own and must ask for and receive His help in these things. Lately, I wonder if I'm listening well enough and then obeying like He wants me to...so, I am going to spend the next several days focusing on hearing Him, listening more closely, praying more intently that my life really is counting for Him, His glory, His Kingdom.

For now, here are some thoughts and photos from the last week or so:

CJ became exhausted from her typing lesson, and passed out next to me in the chair

Before the end of September, we will have had visits from all three of the girls' grandmas. My mom was here when Baby came, this week has been BB's dad's wife (whom the grandkids all call BB, actually), then in early September we'll have BB's mom and sister with us! Each grandmother has such special and unique ways of loving and blessing our family.

When BB's (the grandma, not my man) trip here was planned, she informed us that she was coming to help. I had no idea how much I was going to desperately need that help by the time she arrived. In the short week between my brother's visit and BB's coming, I got very sick, began to get better, then kind of relapsed while she was here. And this was all happening in the week before the big girls were to start school and during their first week of school.

MK has done several stacks of animal/nature scenes recently. She does them in bed at bedtime, often, because she does not fall asleep easily or quickly. This one was so pretty and peaceful.

So, in other words, at I time when I needed rest in a serious way, there was more on my plate than normal. God sent BB to take most of that extra off my plate. What a Providential, perfectly timed blessing her visit has been. She held down the fort, helped with Baby, cooked lots of food, babysat for appointments (cavity filled last week for me!), helped CA in the bathroom, made me nap, read to the big girls.

Thankfully, the sickness is past. But what a special week it's been. We've had some great conversations and made good memories. Yesterday, for a surprise, we took the kids to the newly-opened Lego store. Nevermind that this was one of those tax-free weekends and the mall was an overcrowded MESS. BB let the children choose a Lego set to share and they each also picked something small that they purchased with their own money. No shortage of Lego pretending on the way home - they were in their own world there in the way-back of the truck!

I'm so amazed at God's mercy on me/us these past 8 days. We are sad to see BB leave and look forward to seeing her again at Christmas. Thank you to Granddad for sending her our way for a week!

Cowgirl CA, taking care of one of her babies. Too bad she's not wearing her popple (purple) cowgirl boots! She explained to BB (the grandma) this week that you don't discipline babies, because they don't understand! 

Mercy, Mercy....

353 strips of moonlight on the bedroom floor last night, streaming through the blinds

354 the big girls' first week of school was surprisingly easy - a huge blessing

355 apple cake

356 Baby is ONE MONTH OLD today

357 CJ smiles at us, and the dimples go deep, and we crumble inside for all the sweetness of a fifth daughter given to us

Some people have the gift of napping. This is not to say that he naps often, but BB's side of family has the amazing ability to fall asleep almost anywhere, at any time, even with lots of noise and chaos going on all around them. Sweet to see daddy and Baby grabbing a catnap together.

358 "I sink she needs to bopp" - (I think she needs to burp) - CA's assessment of why the baby was fussing a little


359 the two meals BB (the grandma!) made and put in our freezer


360 Baby has a nickname of sorts - Boring Baby - and believe me, it's meant in all affection. Our last one was (and is!) quite the firecracker, so boring is a welcome thing!

361 the sunrise shining on the big girls' faces as I drove them to the first day of school

362 getting little errands done this week while grandma BB watched some or all of the children

363 how is it that God has blessed me with the chance to hold yet another sweet little lump of baby sleeping on my shoulder?! (this squishy-baby phase is so short - she's already straightening that back, holding up her head)

364 our souls have not had breakfast yet - EG said this earlier, when I called them to the breakfast scripture reading (since we don't always sit down to eat at the same time lately, sometimes we must all come back to the table). I was reminding them that God tells us that we mustn't live on bread alone. Do know that we are not perfect about our mealtime readings - we miss them sometimes, we forget sometimes, but ideally we are trying to feed our souls and minds each time we gather to feed our bodies.

I love it when they ball up like a peanut

365 a new week beginning

366 daddy's concern when Baby's breathing sounded funny in the night

367 those crazy zinnias that have taken up residence in my now-pitiful-due-to-the-horrible-heat window box

368 quiet moments with the Word, the Lord, and the Baby this morning

369 I will never grow tired of the blue of the blue sky: clean, pure, cheerful always

370 listening in on the girls' talk as they build Lego things - they have their own lingo and terminology: "Hey, help me find a blue, skinny, 3-poke!"