It has been a while. We moved into this house over spring break and the move went very smooth.
Katie got confirmed, the school year came to a close, summer came and went in the blink of an eye. The girls started 7th and 8th grade last Wednesday.
I would put some pictures in here, but I cannot figure out how to download from my phone to the pc. I will have to wait to for Mike to show me because when I googled it, it did not happen the way they said it should.
I facilitated the Women's Evening Bible study for the summer with my friend Amy. It was Stronger by Angela Thomas and was very good. I will facilitate the fall study with Beth Ann and it will be No Other Gods by Kelly Mintor. I can tell it will be powerful. It has already caused me to evaluate some areas of my life and make some adjustments.
Mike is beginning his FINAL semester of school this week. Yay!! He will graduate in December. We will drive up to UTEP and watch him walk the stage for his MSN, FNP degree. He will have to take the board certification before he can work as an FNP. It seems like he has been in school for so long on one hand and on the other is has been a blink of an eye. In another blink the girls will be starting college.....
Frankie is still living with dad at the ranch. He loves is out there and dad loves having him. It looks like he will spend the rest of his life living life on the ranch in doggy retirement. Meanwhile, we bought a puppy golden retriever. Her name is Darcy (and as soon as I can get pictures downloaded, I will post some). She is the cutest thing. She loves to swim and has stayed wet pretty much all summer. She will go and just sit on the top step of the pool and hang out. She loves, loves, loves Binxy. We call him her "feline friend". She always looks so happy and when she gets in trouble, she gives you her paw....hard to stay mad at that :-) Her birthday is the beginning of May (we couldn't remember the exact date, so we say it is May 5--Cinco de Mayo).
Mike and I are training for the Chosen Half Marathon in October (to benefit Melody and Zach's second adoption). I am up to a good 6 miles, but did run 8 today. Actually walked the last 1 1/2. Mike ran 13 today, but he had to walk the last 3 or so. The girls are in cross country this fall. In middle school they run no more than 2 miles in a meet. In high school they run 3.1 miles or so. We will see how it goes this year. This is a big year for Lisa--8th grade field trip, picking a high school (which will most likely be LHS, God willing), Spanish 2, Algebra I and she may qualify to take a college credit US History course in the spring if she does well. She is also taking an elective this quarter that I pray strengthens her faith in Christ.
It is exciting to see their little lives unfold, but very scary too. I know they will have their own lives to live, their own walk with Christ will have to develop. They will have their own faith walk, it will not be mine. My prayer for them is that they choose to walk with Christ, for their lives to honor Him and for them to be "awe-inspired" by Him. I recently had a conversation with Lisa which she said that the Bible is not "awe-inspiring", that with technology today anybody can walk on water and because she has been brought up with it, nothing is new. I wish that I could have said something profound, but all I could do was listen. It broke my heart, though. She said that she has heard all of this since she was a baby. True. I prayed to God that He wants us to raise our children up in Him, this is what He has called us to do, so why does my oldest feel so far away, like it isn't relevant. How do we do this Lord?
In October we will be a host family for a baby coming from Uganda for heart surgery through Samaritan's Purse. They had our information from last year and kept it and gave us a call a couple of weeks ago to see if we were still interested in hosting. We said yes and kept taking the next step and it looks like everything will happen. We are getting the garage room all ready and the Cabana all ready. Our hearts are ready and the girls are ready to have a "baby brother" for about 2 months. His mom and interpreter will be with him. Mike may get to fly with them back to Uganda. I wanted to do that until I found out it would be just me, not me and Mike. I can barely pick somebody up from the airport without getting lost, it would be crazy for me to navigate an international itinerary all by myself.
I hope to blog about our experience with this opportunity.
That is the top layer of our lives at this point. I really need to start documenting our lives because it goes by so fast and I forget so much.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
A Day Called Birthday
42 years.
4 decades and then some.
I don't want to sit here and think that my life is half way over--because that could have been 21 years ago...or it could be now. Only God knows.
We are at an exciting time. We will be moving from this apartment in 3 weeks and 5 days. But who is counting :-) Apartment life has been peaceful. Except for the parking and the new dings in the doors, it hasn't been that bad. The lady below us may beg to differ. She may think that she has a herd of elephants living above her.
I know that there are things that I have taken for granted living in a home that I now have an appreciation for:
Parking: Suburban + small spot + full complex + hill=frustrating moments of parking
A bigger kitchen: Our pantry here is the depth of a box of cereal. The good news is that nothing gets lost in the back of the pantry.
A bigger kitchen: Not more than one person can fit in the kitchen comfortably. Once all four of us were in the kitchen when I was trying to cook. Not one of my finest apartment moments.
A bigger kitchen: counter space is at a premium.
A yard. We love yard work. We are moving to a beautiful 1.5 acres.
An indoor washing/drying area. Our washer and dryer are out on the patio and I keep calling it the garage. Our washer froze when the temperature was in the 20's. I always took for granted my indoor washer and dryer. Not anymore!
Our pets: Coco Puff and Lilly Pie are at Cindy's (learning VERY bad habits and annoying Cindy [and Isabel and Snickers]; Binxy is at the Goff's (they say he is a very friendly little guy and likes to hang out at the dining room window and look in and watch them home school); Frankie and Ellie went to the ranch to stay with dad. Ellie died on January 21 after getting hit by a vehicle. We are so thankful for dad. He took great care of her in her living and in her dying. He buried her at the ranch on the hill above the pond. He made a cross and we went out there and he and the girls put the cross in the ground. Ellie was a good dog. Frankie seems to be fine. Every year I think this is his last (for like the last 4 years), now I think he may be eternal. :-)
We have been running/walking a lot. It certainly keeps us from being all over one another and the benefit of exercise, win/win.
The girls do have a loft with their bedroom and their own bathroom--that is a life saver.
Today the girls are in a babysitting class all day. They are learning the "whys and how to's" of babysitting. A little CPR, Heimlich maneuver, what to do in case of emergency like fire/gas leak/water leak. How to entertain the children you are babysitting...should be a great class.
Mike is working today so that left me alone in birthday bliss. A beautiful, sunny 75 degree Saturday with the whole apartment to myself. Beth called me early this morning and it was so nice to visit with her. I did my Bible Study (parked on Epaphroditus in Phil 2--what a friend), went for a run, had lunch with Cindy, went to HEB and did laundry. All by myself--with Pandora on and some essential oils in the diffuser and a cup of coffee. Bliss.
Mike has something planned for tonight....it will be fun, I am sure. Last night we took the suburban to a $5 car wash and as we were going through the wash tunnel he looks over to me and says "How do you like this Valentine's Day tunnel of love?" :-)
Psalm 91:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
4 decades and then some.
I don't want to sit here and think that my life is half way over--because that could have been 21 years ago...or it could be now. Only God knows.
We are at an exciting time. We will be moving from this apartment in 3 weeks and 5 days. But who is counting :-) Apartment life has been peaceful. Except for the parking and the new dings in the doors, it hasn't been that bad. The lady below us may beg to differ. She may think that she has a herd of elephants living above her.
I know that there are things that I have taken for granted living in a home that I now have an appreciation for:
Parking: Suburban + small spot + full complex + hill=frustrating moments of parking
A bigger kitchen: Our pantry here is the depth of a box of cereal. The good news is that nothing gets lost in the back of the pantry.
A bigger kitchen: Not more than one person can fit in the kitchen comfortably. Once all four of us were in the kitchen when I was trying to cook. Not one of my finest apartment moments.
A bigger kitchen: counter space is at a premium.
A yard. We love yard work. We are moving to a beautiful 1.5 acres.
An indoor washing/drying area. Our washer and dryer are out on the patio and I keep calling it the garage. Our washer froze when the temperature was in the 20's. I always took for granted my indoor washer and dryer. Not anymore!
Our pets: Coco Puff and Lilly Pie are at Cindy's (learning VERY bad habits and annoying Cindy [and Isabel and Snickers]; Binxy is at the Goff's (they say he is a very friendly little guy and likes to hang out at the dining room window and look in and watch them home school); Frankie and Ellie went to the ranch to stay with dad. Ellie died on January 21 after getting hit by a vehicle. We are so thankful for dad. He took great care of her in her living and in her dying. He buried her at the ranch on the hill above the pond. He made a cross and we went out there and he and the girls put the cross in the ground. Ellie was a good dog. Frankie seems to be fine. Every year I think this is his last (for like the last 4 years), now I think he may be eternal. :-)
We have been running/walking a lot. It certainly keeps us from being all over one another and the benefit of exercise, win/win.
The girls do have a loft with their bedroom and their own bathroom--that is a life saver.
Today the girls are in a babysitting class all day. They are learning the "whys and how to's" of babysitting. A little CPR, Heimlich maneuver, what to do in case of emergency like fire/gas leak/water leak. How to entertain the children you are babysitting...should be a great class.
Mike is working today so that left me alone in birthday bliss. A beautiful, sunny 75 degree Saturday with the whole apartment to myself. Beth called me early this morning and it was so nice to visit with her. I did my Bible Study (parked on Epaphroditus in Phil 2--what a friend), went for a run, had lunch with Cindy, went to HEB and did laundry. All by myself--with Pandora on and some essential oils in the diffuser and a cup of coffee. Bliss.
Mike has something planned for tonight....it will be fun, I am sure. Last night we took the suburban to a $5 car wash and as we were going through the wash tunnel he looks over to me and says "How do you like this Valentine's Day tunnel of love?" :-)
Psalm 91:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Our RVL Conference
2013 will go down as a not-so-stellar blogging year.
2013 went so fast and I suspect 2014 will fly by at the same speed.
We ended this year going to see Ray Vander Laan in Midland, Texas. We had so much fun and learned so much. He really reignited the flame to be in God's word and dig in deep, to ask myself as I read God's story, what does it reveal to me from God. To know that God wants us to intimately not just know the story, but to join His story. Be the message, not just bring the message.
Our friends Becky and Shawn rode with us and stayed in the same hotel as we did. It was so nice to catch up with them and then to talk about all of the stuff we learned while at the conference.
We had some other friends who went along as well and it was so encouraging. I love the people God has put in our lives; the ones who stretch you and make you try to understand just a little deeper; the ones who ask you why you believe that or where do you get your information from; the ones who encourage and help to fan the flame of digging into God's word AND applying it life.
Lisa and Katie had a great time also. I was wondering if they would be bored, but they were not. In fact, we had to sit in the first row for the entire conference.
The front row. The entire time.
Katie was in line to ask questions during every break there was. RVL is sending them a couple of tassels for them to wear. They are very excited for those to come in the mail. He said that he takes seniors who just graduated from high school to Israel every summer and both girls could come along when they graduate. How awesome would that be?
We learned that Christians treat the Bible like it is two stories: Old Testament and New Testament. But it is really one continuous story. We learned to ask ourselves as we did deeper: why do I need to know this, where does it link, is there a connection?
RVL compared Mark 4:35-41 to the story of Jonah. Jonah was asleep, Jesus was asleep, guys get Jonah up, disciples get Jesus up, Jonah was running away from his mission, Jesus was going towards His-Decapolis. Then Jesus calmed the storm. The disciples must have thought of Psalm 107:28-29 "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed." Of course, RVL does a much better job and had lots of insight to add, so this is just a feeble attempt to get my notes more organized :-)
There are so many more....to be continued.
2013 went so fast and I suspect 2014 will fly by at the same speed.
We ended this year going to see Ray Vander Laan in Midland, Texas. We had so much fun and learned so much. He really reignited the flame to be in God's word and dig in deep, to ask myself as I read God's story, what does it reveal to me from God. To know that God wants us to intimately not just know the story, but to join His story. Be the message, not just bring the message.
Our friends Becky and Shawn rode with us and stayed in the same hotel as we did. It was so nice to catch up with them and then to talk about all of the stuff we learned while at the conference.
We had some other friends who went along as well and it was so encouraging. I love the people God has put in our lives; the ones who stretch you and make you try to understand just a little deeper; the ones who ask you why you believe that or where do you get your information from; the ones who encourage and help to fan the flame of digging into God's word AND applying it life.
Lisa and Katie had a great time also. I was wondering if they would be bored, but they were not. In fact, we had to sit in the first row for the entire conference.
The front row. The entire time.
Katie was in line to ask questions during every break there was. RVL is sending them a couple of tassels for them to wear. They are very excited for those to come in the mail. He said that he takes seniors who just graduated from high school to Israel every summer and both girls could come along when they graduate. How awesome would that be?
We learned that Christians treat the Bible like it is two stories: Old Testament and New Testament. But it is really one continuous story. We learned to ask ourselves as we did deeper: why do I need to know this, where does it link, is there a connection?
RVL compared Mark 4:35-41 to the story of Jonah. Jonah was asleep, Jesus was asleep, guys get Jonah up, disciples get Jesus up, Jonah was running away from his mission, Jesus was going towards His-Decapolis. Then Jesus calmed the storm. The disciples must have thought of Psalm 107:28-29 "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed." Of course, RVL does a much better job and had lots of insight to add, so this is just a feeble attempt to get my notes more organized :-)
There are so many more....to be continued.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
A December Walk at the Ranch
Dad, Lisa and Katie on the hill at the ranch.
Walking with dad to check on feeders.
Jogging when possible.
Stopping in at Grandpa Baker's and saying "hi".
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Christmas 2013: Simplicity
Merry Christmas
This Christmas season has been marked by simplicity. We didn't mail out cards this year, didn't put any ornaments on the tree, except for 7 names of Jesus. This Christmas season finds us about to move. We will be living in an apartment for 3 months and then moving into our "new" home. We are calling our apartment living and "adventure". Our adventure begins January 6.
We weren't planning on moving. But doors opened and we just kept moving forward. Our home was on the market for only 1 day when we got a contract on it. We can't move into the other home until March because the people living in will not be moving until mid-March. They are building a home in North Texas to live closer to family. The husband in this family has been a patient of Mike's for three years. They live here in Shavano Park, so we are staying here, just moving to the other side of the street. The people buying our home wanted to be in it before Christmas, but there was just no way we could manage that.
With a move comes cleaning out and purging. It forced us to go through all of mom's stuff that had been sitting up in the garage for 5 years. It was time.
It is a good feeling to live simply. I have heard Mike say many times "loose grip, loose grip." That has been our motto along with "We can't take it with us"--meaning eternally. Seriously, would we want too? We come into this world with nothing...not even clothes, but yet sometimes I place such value on things.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14
Loose grip.
Simplicity.
Wisdom.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Summer Recap 2013
School begins in two weeks and we have two middle- schoolers. Wow.
Here is our summer 2013 recap (not in any sort of order, just how it popped into my head):
This summer Lisa ran in a track club. We all benefited from it, but it made for long weekdays. She had practice M-Th from 6-8 pm. I logged over 72 running (OK more like jogging) miles the month of July. Pretty good since I am not training for anything in particular. Mike is training for a rim2rim2rim (R2R2R) at the Grand Canyon in November with Brandon and some other guys. It is motivational to have something to work towards, or at least have somebody in the family working towards something :-)
Katie played basketball this summer. Her games were every Wednesday for 7 weeks at 8 pm usually. Thankfully, track practice was at a high school and BB was at a middle school 1 mile away.
It made for a busy but physically active summer. I am extremely thankful for our health and that God has given us the ability to run and walk. In my job, I review all of the mortality for the hospital system, so I am reminded everyday how precious our lives are and that health is a gift from God. We honor God not only in the food we choose to eat, but also in maintaining an active lifestyle. That is not to say we can control every disease or sickness that happens to us, but it really helps me keep food in perspective. With that being said, I am on day 8 of doing the whole 30 plan again. I did it back in January and it was awesome. I kept it up for February and then started eating more bread products. So back to lots of veggies, lean proteins and fruit. No sweets/white foods/processed food. I feel more energetic and headaches have pretty much disappeared (I had a really bad migraine a couple of weeks ago--so bad that it caused capillaries in my eye to burst--not fun). When I eat healthy, the whole family does too--imagine that!
Lisa got to sew at Threads of Love with our friend Sheila on Tuesdays throughout the summer. She made little outfits for the premature babies in the NICU's around San Antonio. She would hang out with all of these ladies with tons of sewing experience and learn from them the fine art of sewing. She is very creative and the ladies loved having her around. She also went on a mission trip with our church to an area of San Antonio where homes needed lots of work and people needed the love of Christ shown. Her experience was a good one and her pictures were hysterical--for example: stray cats and dogs, the food they ate, the showers they used...Oh the world through the eyes of a teenager.
Katie and Lisa both volunteered at VBS. This same week Evie, Lisa's best friend, came and stayed with us for the week. Her mom Beth, one of my closest friends, came down with Lawton and they stayed with us for a few days. It was so much fun and so uplifting.
Mike took the girls snorkeling at Canyon lake and Landa Park a few times this summer. They loved it. We are thinking about a Caribbean vacation next summer that would involve a beach and snorkeling.
We did go to the coast for a long weekend. We met Brandon, Lisa and their 4 girls and had a great time.
We have been having a wonderful summer with our small group. I have been leading the preteens/teens through a Bible study called Follow Me by David Platt. The adults are going through Ray Vanderlaan's "In the Dust of the Rabbi" and the little one's are being read "The Little Pilgrim's Progress" by one of the adults. It is awesome.
I also took both girls (individually) through Passport to Purity. It is a CD kit from Family Life that I highly recommend. It was a Friday evening and Saturday until about 3 pm (It is recommended for 6th graders, moms take daughters through it and dads take their sons). We listened to the CD's and had discussions and also had projects to complete and then I ended it at James Avery where they picked out a ring. Their first ring. I had it packaged and brought it home where Mike got the opportunity to talk to his daughter about how we are responsible to teach her and help her set boundaries in her relationships, how Christ should have preeminence in her life and how He wants her to remain pure until she is married. He then put the ring on her finger and said that the next man to put a ring on that finger will be her future husband.
Cue the tears.
Oh. My. Goodness. Wasn't it just yesterday we were rocking them to sleep?
Here is our summer 2013 recap (not in any sort of order, just how it popped into my head):
This summer Lisa ran in a track club. We all benefited from it, but it made for long weekdays. She had practice M-Th from 6-8 pm. I logged over 72 running (OK more like jogging) miles the month of July. Pretty good since I am not training for anything in particular. Mike is training for a rim2rim2rim (R2R2R) at the Grand Canyon in November with Brandon and some other guys. It is motivational to have something to work towards, or at least have somebody in the family working towards something :-)
Katie played basketball this summer. Her games were every Wednesday for 7 weeks at 8 pm usually. Thankfully, track practice was at a high school and BB was at a middle school 1 mile away.
It made for a busy but physically active summer. I am extremely thankful for our health and that God has given us the ability to run and walk. In my job, I review all of the mortality for the hospital system, so I am reminded everyday how precious our lives are and that health is a gift from God. We honor God not only in the food we choose to eat, but also in maintaining an active lifestyle. That is not to say we can control every disease or sickness that happens to us, but it really helps me keep food in perspective. With that being said, I am on day 8 of doing the whole 30 plan again. I did it back in January and it was awesome. I kept it up for February and then started eating more bread products. So back to lots of veggies, lean proteins and fruit. No sweets/white foods/processed food. I feel more energetic and headaches have pretty much disappeared (I had a really bad migraine a couple of weeks ago--so bad that it caused capillaries in my eye to burst--not fun). When I eat healthy, the whole family does too--imagine that!
Lisa got to sew at Threads of Love with our friend Sheila on Tuesdays throughout the summer. She made little outfits for the premature babies in the NICU's around San Antonio. She would hang out with all of these ladies with tons of sewing experience and learn from them the fine art of sewing. She is very creative and the ladies loved having her around. She also went on a mission trip with our church to an area of San Antonio where homes needed lots of work and people needed the love of Christ shown. Her experience was a good one and her pictures were hysterical--for example: stray cats and dogs, the food they ate, the showers they used...Oh the world through the eyes of a teenager.
Katie and Lisa both volunteered at VBS. This same week Evie, Lisa's best friend, came and stayed with us for the week. Her mom Beth, one of my closest friends, came down with Lawton and they stayed with us for a few days. It was so much fun and so uplifting.
Mike took the girls snorkeling at Canyon lake and Landa Park a few times this summer. They loved it. We are thinking about a Caribbean vacation next summer that would involve a beach and snorkeling.
We did go to the coast for a long weekend. We met Brandon, Lisa and their 4 girls and had a great time.
We have been having a wonderful summer with our small group. I have been leading the preteens/teens through a Bible study called Follow Me by David Platt. The adults are going through Ray Vanderlaan's "In the Dust of the Rabbi" and the little one's are being read "The Little Pilgrim's Progress" by one of the adults. It is awesome.
I also took both girls (individually) through Passport to Purity. It is a CD kit from Family Life that I highly recommend. It was a Friday evening and Saturday until about 3 pm (It is recommended for 6th graders, moms take daughters through it and dads take their sons). We listened to the CD's and had discussions and also had projects to complete and then I ended it at James Avery where they picked out a ring. Their first ring. I had it packaged and brought it home where Mike got the opportunity to talk to his daughter about how we are responsible to teach her and help her set boundaries in her relationships, how Christ should have preeminence in her life and how He wants her to remain pure until she is married. He then put the ring on her finger and said that the next man to put a ring on that finger will be her future husband.
Cue the tears.
Oh. My. Goodness. Wasn't it just yesterday we were rocking them to sleep?
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Mom Stuff
My girls are growing so fast. Lisa is about to turn 13 in a few weeks. How can this be?
It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms as an infant and now she is a young lady.
There are some things she does that really crack us up. She adores her daddy. She thinks he is the coolest dad around (unless she is in trouble). She thinks he is hilarious and will copy word for word what he just said, laugh and say "that is so funny". Mike and I just look at each other and can hardly keep the laughter in.
I taught her how to shave her legs last week. She didn't want to learn and that warmed my heart. But there comes a time in life when a girl needs to learn how to shave her legs and this was the time. I showed her on about one inch of her leg and she took it from there and got into it. Then she exclaimed "My legs are soooo soft. This is great." She may have said the word "Coolio" a few times. I think that means cool.
Katie is at an in between phase in growing up. She is still a little girl, but is rapidly maturing into a young lady. In our society it is a challenge to keep them from growing up too fast. I love that she still likes to play with her stuffed animals (along with the cats whom they dress up in doll clothes).
It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms as an infant and now she is a young lady.
There are some things she does that really crack us up. She adores her daddy. She thinks he is the coolest dad around (unless she is in trouble). She thinks he is hilarious and will copy word for word what he just said, laugh and say "that is so funny". Mike and I just look at each other and can hardly keep the laughter in.
I taught her how to shave her legs last week. She didn't want to learn and that warmed my heart. But there comes a time in life when a girl needs to learn how to shave her legs and this was the time. I showed her on about one inch of her leg and she took it from there and got into it. Then she exclaimed "My legs are soooo soft. This is great." She may have said the word "Coolio" a few times. I think that means cool.
Katie is at an in between phase in growing up. She is still a little girl, but is rapidly maturing into a young lady. In our society it is a challenge to keep them from growing up too fast. I love that she still likes to play with her stuffed animals (along with the cats whom they dress up in doll clothes).
Lisa is getting confirmed next week. She will take her first communion and will verbalize for herself her faith and trust in our Lord. For Confirmation we let Lisa pick out her own Bible. She picked out an HCSB Study Bible and we had her name engraved on it. We picked it up today and she was thrilled. My prayer is that she has a passion and is on fire for God, His Word and continues to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:13)
This is a picture of Lisa and Ellie (with Pastor Tucker) when they acolyted together a couple of weeks ago. Lisa got the privilege to acolyte for the Good Friday service. Our Good Friday service is one of my favorite services of the year. The Pastors each take Jesus's words from the cross and do a devotional on it. The lights get dimmer throughout the entire service until the end when it is very dark. There is no benediction, everybody just leaves in silence. She said that at the very end after the pastors finished stripping the alter, her and the other acolyte got to go up to the alter with the pastors, bow and leave. She felt so humble and started to cry. We came home and she got to watch The Passion of the Christ for the first time. We all cry during that movie--because we know it is more than just a movie--it was payment for our sins--and we really cannot grasp the depth of it.
We asked her what she thought of it afterwards and she said with tears streaming down her face, "It was horrible."
Yes, sweet girl, it was. But this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 1 John 3:16
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