A little one has come to Jesus!!

Rejoice in the Lord! A little one has come into God's kingdom. Chloe has become a Christian! Her spiritual birthday was Monday, August 15, 2005. I was tired and I almost missed it. Praise God I was able to be apart of such a wonderful time with my kids.

At the end of the day I am usually quite tired. Monday night, I had thought to myself that it would be wonderful if Chase bathed the kids and put them to bed while I had some down time. Well after dinner while we were outside playing a bit, Chase got the notion to weed eat our natural areas. Yeah Chase! It looks so much better now. Well this kept him out working til about 8:30. And that left me to bathe the kids and prepare them for bed. After they were all clean and in their pjs, we sat down to read a Bible story from The Eager Reader Bible.

We read the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18. In it the Tax Collector confessed that he was a sinner and was humble before the Lord. I asked the girls (JohnCaedmon was wandering around not really listening) if they knew what a sinner was and that the Bible says that we have all sinned. I explained that sin is when we don't obey what God wants us to do, then I kept reading. Chloe admitted she had sinned but said "I'm not a sinner." Abbey immediately declared "No, I'm a sinner, Chloe." I kept reading. At the end of the parable Jesus says that God forgave the tax collector but he did not forgive the Pharisee. And that all people who admit their sins will be forgiven. When I read that Chloe had a pondering look on her face and then she said "So that means that I'm not forgiven?" Earlier she did not want to admit that she was a sinner. I explained that when she was ready she could talk to God about her sin and he would forgive her and she could become a Christian. She said "I want to now Mommy. I want to be a Christian." I told her that she could pray now. She prayed that Jesus would clean her heart and that she wouldn't do bad things anymore and that the Holy Spirit would come in her. Then she looked up and said "Look I can see God!" Then she looked at me and asked "Am I a Christian now?" I talked to her a little more about what that means. She got so excited and declared with joy "I'm a Christian now!" Her face was so lit up with joy. What a delight to witness. Then she asked if she could go see the King now. She has heard me sing "Soon and very soon we are going to see the King..." "When God is ready for you to, you will", I replied.

When Chase came in from working in the yard, she beamed with joy and told him that she was a Christian. She has also asked if she won't to bad things anymore now. She said she doesn't want to bad. I told her that the Holy Spirit that was now in her would help her to not to do bad and remind her of the good things she is to do.

But that leads us to an interesting question to ponder. Do Christians sin? See 1st John 3:9 for an interesting verse. Any thoughts on that verse? Let me know.

I know Chloe has much to learn about what it means to be a Christian. But this I do know. She was grieved over her sin. Confessed it with her mouth to Jesus. Confessed Jesus as Christ and now has believed in her heart. What a memorable evening of August the 15th. So I will say it again, rejoice in the Lord! A little one has come to him.

More park pictures!

Abbey says 'Hello'

Tree climbing

Ants, ants everywhere

Check out these links

I have recently read a book by Nancy Leigh Demoss called Brokenness. It has been very convicting and compelling book. It really helped clarify a proud verses a broken or contrite spirit. I will write more of what God has been showing me though this book later. But if you looking for God to speak a fresh word to you, I encourage you to read it. Check out the Revive our Hearts website. Nancy Leigh Demoss has a gift for speaking the truth of God's Word.

Also check out this very powerful sermon by David Wilkerson called "A Call to Anquish" The sermon is on the Sermon Index site. This is great site with tons of free online sermons. When you click on this link scroll down to "A Call to Anguish" It really stired me and has challenged me to anguish for souls and anguish in my prayers.

Until next time....
Janet

Here we are at the end of the day.

Playing at Jeff State Park

Playing with our friends

We enjoyed a short trip to the park with our friend the Knowles. I guess I'm on a camera kick right now so bear with the many pictures I post. I just figure everyone wants to see our cute kids. Right?? Good. I thought so. Maybe one day I'll post some pictures of Chase or myself. But usually I'm behind the camera.

Abbey's friend Emma

Sweet Abbey

Chloe and her buddy Josiah

John Caedmon playing peek-a-boo. Notice the gap in his bangs. Oh well it will grow out.

Chloe's new bob.

So what ever became of the hair fiasco?

Preparing for her first hair cut. Grandmom came to assist.

Well I took the kids to get their first cut. We went to the Hair Force on Deerfoot Parkway where they have a cool airplane for the kids to sit in to get a cut. And first hair cuts are free there. Very cool. Actually Chloe was the only one who really got a cut. Abbey's hair will just have to be clipped back until it grows some more. It's not that noticeable. And John Caedmon just got a few bangs trimmed. The rest of his bangs will just have to grow back to even it out. I know many were quite concerned that we would cut all his curls off. No we didn't. So all can breathe sigh of relief. For now we left all his curls. Over all everyone turned out ok. Chloe now as a pretty cute bob. So all is well.

Chloe was not real fond of getting more hair cut.

All better now!

Updated blog

Well I have just updated our blog with new links. Check the sites out, good stuff. I have also redone our archives and our title. I am pondering how to change the links so that they open in a new window instead of navigating you away from our fabulous site! Anyone know how to do that??

Not too old to learn new tricks...Janet

4 year olds should not cut hair

Am I in trouble?

I have heard of people having to take their kids to get a hair cut to 'fix' their hair after a fiasco with scissors. I just never thought it would happen to us. Well, I was wrong. Chloe was brushing and styling Abbey's hair. I was writing an email to my pastor which is yet to be completed. The girls disappeared to the bathroom. I assumed they were still 'fixing' hair. About 20 minutes later Chloe comes out and proudly announced that she had a hair cut. Horrified, I stared at her not knowing what to say first. I was infuriated, sad, shocked and amazed that what I saw was real. About 7 inches of her hair was gone, she had really short bangs and of course it was all uneven. After a series of questions about if she thought that was a good thing to do and if she should play with the blunt kids scissors that way, I walked her to the bathroom. All over the floor lay her long ringlets. Fortunately, I never yelled or lost it. I told her to go sit on the bathroom stool, while I stepped into the hall to gather myself. As I started to walk out of the bathroom, Chloe began to realize what she had done and began to sob "I want my long hair back. I don't want short hair." Every time Chloe takes a bath she talks about how long her hair is getting and how she loves having long hair. She wants it to get long all the way to her feet (I think that is a bit long though.) So it is rather shocking that she decided to cut it. Chloe is now quite devastated that her long hair is gone. No further discipline was needed tonight. She is so sad at what she as done. She finally said she just wanted to see what it would look like. We had much hair to clean up. Then I discovered hair in her bedroom as well. Abbey's hair. John Caedmon's hair. Fortunately, only parts of their hair was cut. John Caedmon has really short and crooked bangs and Abbey had a section on her right side that is ear length and several other uneven gaps. They will all need to go to a salon to get "fixed" I don't think I'm trained to handle hair repair. Chloe has cried off and on all evening about her hair. She cried at bed for her long hair back and asked how many hours til it got long again. I guess she learned an important lesson tonight, what that lesson is I'm not real sure yet. But it will be a memorable night for all of us. You just never know what they'll do next!
-Janet

Chase's note: (very rare for me to post here) Those of you that know me, probably know I don't care much about hair one way or the other. I actually forgot to brush my hair this morning after my shower and didn't notice until I got to church. That said, when I got home and saw Chloe's hair and how forlorn she was, I wanted to cry with her. She kept saying that she wanted her hair to grow back.....I didn't have the heart to tell her it would take a year or so! :(

I like to tell Chloe and Abbey that it's not safe to disobey, and this is a good example of that, I guess. Perhaps it will be a good lesson to her on the consequences of doing something you're not supposed to do - this will be a long term reminder when everybody comments on her new hair cut. I've found myself pondering the long term effects of our own decisions. You never know when something you do without a lot of thought might have long term consequences......the first cigarette that leads to years of addiction, the first brush with pornography, etc. Chloe's 4, so it's a little understandable that she might cut her own hair and not realize the long term impact - I've made some much worse decisions at a later age.

For the record, Chloe is continuing a Thompson tradition that I started when I was a little older than she was, of giving yourself a bad haircut.

Well gentle readers - how about leaving some comments about crazy things your kids have done....that would be worth reading, I imagine! We'll take the best ones and make a post out of them.

A hair cutting fiasco

Pictures from our trip to Destin

Father and son

I guess it is time for another post. Here are our most recent pictures. I will post more of my life ponderings soon. Hope all is well with everyone.
-Janet

Mimi, Papa and Chandler

Abbey, Channing and Tom eating lunch

Chase and John Caedmon watching the sea gulls.

Outside of Pompano Joes, our favorite restaurant. What great food and a great view of the ocean even when it's raining!

Channing and Tom's new little baby. Trip is 6 weeks old.

Playing

Chloe and her brother

Our best attempt at a group picture. Due to the rain our beach picture ended up inside.

Chloe and Chandler

What a cutie!