More b'day pics

Abbey, Emma, Anna, Caleb, Chloe, Mary Claire, Josiah and Chandler are some of our friends who came to our house to celebrate John Caedmon's first birthday.

Here are some pictures from John Caedmon's 1st birthday party. He had a good time eating his cake.

Finally I learned to post pictures!

This is us family at Elevation on 3/6/05. It's not exactly a pollished family portrait. But that's us! Thanks Devon for taking it!
-Janet

More than a conqueror

A little over a week ago, I went on a ladies retreat with CBS. The leader asked us to share some of our favorite Bible verses. My mind initially drew a blank. I have many verses I like. But I pondered, "What is my 'life verse' or specific promise of God for this season of my life?" Later that afternoon as I was strolling through Callaway Gardens (where our retreat was held) with some dear friends, God brought to mind the verse I am to hold onto in this season.

"No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37

As I have pondered this verse and researched it, the Holy Spirit brought it to life for me. Truly His Word is living and active. The first thing I saw that was exciting was the phrase "in ALL these things". Looking back at verse 35, Paul writes "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" The answer is no. Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. And in ALL these things, we are more than conquerors. God has given us the power to be a conqueror in EVERY situation we face no matter how hard it may be. WOW!

The next thing that God showed me is that we are not only to be a conqueror but to be MORE than a conqueror. The Greek word is hupernikao which means to gain a surpassing victory, to thoroughly conquer, to go beyond conquest. Wow, we win big! Beyond conquest means true abundant living, living life to the full. In John 10:10 Jesus says "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

That was so encouraging to me because it reminds me that no matter what I face, I can be victorious. I mean really win big - like a 1000 to nothing football game. And I can win big in every situation in my life, big and small alike. I can face it.

It gets even better. Here's the punch line: It's not even by my own strength or doing. I don't have to be strong enough to handle situations that come my way. Through 'him who loved us' we are more than conquerors. Through Christ Jesus, we have success and victory. Through His power, the same power that raised him from the dead, we have life and strength. Wow! He enables us, gives us joy and peace. He loves us sooooo much and nothing can change that. It's time to become MORE than a conqueror in every area of life through Jesus Christ who loves us.

So that is my verse for this season, to hold onto and be encouraged to persevere in all trials. I hope this encouraged you as well. It's not really a new concept. I think God was reminding me to stop trying to live my life in my own strength. I fail in my own strength. But with His strength, I can be more than a conqueror.

Supermom is sick!

I've got to say it - my wife is a great mom. We have three children 4 and under, and keeping up with them requires a lot of patience, strength and mutant abilities. I find myself quite lacking in some of these categories (especially the mutant abilities), nevertheless, with mommy puking (stomach virus) I'm the man now, and I'm trembling with fear, hiding in the corner. Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but let's face it....being a mom is really hard - especially to three young ones, two in diapers. I love being a dad - aside from salvation and marriage, it's been the greatest thrill of my life. I love playing with the kids, putting them to bed, singing with them, talking to them, taking them out to eat, etc. Being a mom, however, is all of those things plus potty training, changing diapers, cleaning up runny noses, fixing meals, cleaning up meals, cleaning up messes, getting people dressed, fixing hair, policing squabbles, scheduling naps, cleaning house, and so much more. Here's to you full time mom's - you've got a hard job, and may the Father bless you much for doing it. And dad's out there reading this - give your wife some much needed thanksgiving and encouragement. Take it from this dad struggling to fill a mom's shoes - she's earned it!

/Chase
//Pray that Janet gets better while I have few shreds of sanity yet left in my mortal being.

Gender Is No Disease - Christianity Today Magazine

Well, science is moving ahead at breakneck speed, and I find it interesting that some of the latest technological advances are enabling horrible ideas of the past get another looksee, like Eugenics. Though I think there may be some good intentioned scientist's delving into the area of improving the human race by manipulating our gene pool....I think the jump from that to Nazi era ideals of eliminating the week and less desirable is close at hand. Here's a great article on the whole thing: I welcome your comments, and offer the observation that my posts and my wife's might be quite a bit different!

Chase


Gender is not a disease,' a Northwestern University fertility specialist recently told The Washington Post. 'My job is to help people make healthy babies, not help people design their babies.' And yet, when affluent couples select the sex of their babies by using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in connection with in vitro fertilization, they are in danger of treating gender like a disease."
Gender Is No Disease - Christianity Today Magazine: "(click for more)

SuperMom does not exist

Whew. The Wednesday whirl has ended. I won't complain for I like all that I do on Wednesdays. But wow it sure pushes me to my limits. Every Wednesday I pretend to be SuperMom.

It begins when I wake, which is hopefully before the kids do. After the morning rush of preparing bags, fixing and eating breakfast, dressing everyone, and fixing hair, I transport my three kids (4yrs, 2yrs, and 1yr) to a community bible study and escort them to their classes. I then go lead the teen group. After picking them up, we load up, go home, unload, fix lunch, eat, kids nap, then I sit for a moment to prepare to teach the elementary group at church. Although if the house is a mess I don't sit for long. When kids wake, we prepare diaper bags, get dressed again and head out the door for church. Sometime we eat there sometimes not, just depends on how everyone's doing. Then upon depositing the kids in the nursery, I teach the elementary children. I then pick up my kids, go home, get kids ready for bed and hopefully by 9:30 they are all situated. Which is actually an hour past their bedtime. But Wednesdays are an exception.

I think today was a success. But that is not the case for every Wednesday. I say success because the teen group and children's group seemed to go fairly well and my own children stayed fairly happy. And I didn't lose it or yell. So all went well. Except Abbey did hit someone in nursery tonight. She seems to think that its ok she hit because she said she was sorry immediately after the hit. I guess I need to work on that.

Gods grace is really the only reason I survive on Wednesdays. And sometimes I just can't quite muster up the super mom persona and we stay home and let someone else teach at church.

So I wonder to myself after the whirlwind has ended, have I been obedient to the Lord today? Am I missing the mark? Can I really be supermom? Well for a day, maybe.

That's a big maybe, because really SuperMom does not exist. It's only God who enables me to accomplish any extraordinary feat. (Like changing a diaper in 30 seconds) And in His strength, even the most busy, stressful day can be a joy.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Welcome to our Blog

Yesterday Chase came home with the exciting news that he had created a blog for us. My first thoughts were that people who write blogs are computer nerds (like my husband) and have way too much time on their hands (unlike me). Since spare time is rather sparce around here and my computer expertice is rather limited, I was sceptical of my partipication in this family venture. But after many, many questions and pondering what exactly do we do with a blog, I agreed to give it a try.

We hope to use our blog as a way to keep our friends and family updated on some of our random thoughts and activities. As many of you know, I tend to be a bit analytical. So from time to time I will post some of my deep (or sometimes not) analytical thoughts for you to ponder. I hope that our blog will be an encouragement to many. I'm sure you will often get a chuckle from it as well. So with that in mind, enjoy your reading. And come back from time to time to see what's new. Feel free to comment, but please be nice if you don't agree with some of our ponderings.