It's Been Too Long, I know.

Christmas Highlights

Does your cat climb the Christmas tree?

Everybody got a piggy bank this year.

Adam just loves his red train from Grandma!

We really surprised Dabney with a new doll she had been wanting~ it was a group gift from many people.

It wouldn't be Christmas day without a nap or two for Mom and Dad. Tim and I had been up most of Christmas Eve night assembling a big basketball hoop as a gift for all of the kids. They really love it, though somehow I didn't manage to get any pictures. :( I got a nap in, myself, after I put the turkey in the oven and Tim and Adam woke up.

We really did have a wonderful, simple Christmas, which is just the just the way we like it.

David's Birthday / Christmas Eve

Mid-November

So much has been happening around here! I should have been updating all the way through but it just didn't happen. A few weeks ago we went to visit Tim's parents in Bismarck but when we came back our phones and internet were out. Qwest had to come out a few days later to fix the problem. Then, last week, my laptop got a virus and we're still waiting for the needed software to arrive. (I'm blogging on Tim's computer.) Meanwhile, school has been plugging along well and for the most part things are smooth sailing. The biggest adjustment is exhibited in the picture of Adam below:

Yes, a new arrival in our home will make Adam a big brother next May! We're very excited, and I'm almost 15 weeks along now, so anticipate a gender announcement coming in the next month or so! In the meantime, I posted some pictures so you can see how nicely the rest of the flock is growing...

Who Can Appease Eternal Wrath?

Question 13. Can we pay this debt ourselves?
Answer. Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.

Question 14. Can another creature any at all pay this debt for us?
Answer. No. God will not punish any other creature for what a human being has committed. Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal wrath against sin and release others from it.

Merciful, Righteous Judgement

Question 11. But isn't God merciful?
Answer. God is indeed merciful but also just. Divine justice demands that sin, committed against God's supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty eternal punishment of body and soul.

Question 12. According to God's righteous judgement we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God's favor?
Answer. God requires that divine justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of this justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.

King Tut

Ok, they wouldn't let me take pictures at the museum so I had to bring a few non-artifact items home so we could have some record of the event on our blog. If I have more time soon, I'll share more later.

I think they're trying to be very serious and authentic.

Keeping the Law

Question 9. But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in the law what we are unable to do?
Answer. No. God created human beings with the ability to keep the law. They, however, tempted by the devil, in deliberate disobedience, robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.

Question 10. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
Answer. Certainly not. God is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge God punishes them now and in eternity. God has declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law."

Pumpkin Time

This is a project that I wanted to complete last year, but never got around to it. These are designed to be just like Pottery Barn's Build-A-Pumpkin Kits, but for all 4 of mine for less than half of the price of 1 kit! I think the project cost us $3. Anyway, find instructions over here. We didn't make the skeleton (he's pretty ugly) so we made our 4th pumpkin (last one on the left) an homage to King Tut, whom we will meet next week!




Funny, I see 5 pumpkins in the picture. Hmmmm.

What We Did on Our Summer Vacation - Family Camp

This past August, we attended our church's family camp! For the last few summers, we'd added a couple little boys to our family, so we had been unable to participate with our family camp for quite a while. This year, however, seemed wide open to the possibility! We gathered our food and supplies, tents and sleeping bags and headed out into the "wilderness".

We camped at a state park so there were pavilions available to our group for meetings and devotions and bathhouses not too far from our campsite.

And there was a great field for the annual family olympic competitions.

We also visited a park nearby that had a wonderful volleyball area, playground for little kids and a fantastic water feature, which was the biggest hit for our kids.

Dabney is checking out the new space in her mouth.

We were so privileged to have Auntie Cait with us for our camping trip!

Wrestling with friends~ I LOVE this!

Tim, James, Josh, Adam, Cait, and I all slept in one really big tent (which I didn't manage to get a picture of) while Dabney and David slept in a tent David received for his last birthday.

And, boy, did we all sleep well at night!