Joy even now

Sometimes I find in the midst of my daily trials that the joy I once had, while rooted in the hope I still have, eludes me. As the muck of my own sin, intermingled with the struggles to correct the sin of my children overtakes my day, I'm discouraged. I long for the day when He completes the work He started in me so long ago. I read this passage from this morning's Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon, and hope it will be an encouragement to you as well:

"We are married unto Christ; and shall our great Bridegroom permit his spouse to linger in constant grief? Our hearts are knit unto him: we are his members, and though for awhile we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even now blessed with heavenly blessings in him. We have the earnest of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are neither few nor small. Inheritors of joy for ever, we have foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising. Our riches are beyond the sea; our city with firm foundations lies on the other side the river; gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts, and urge us onward."

2 Corinthians 9:15

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

My Grandma

A few weeks ago, just before we started school, my children and I took a quick trip up to Oregon to see my dear grandma. She's my mom's mom and a very precious lady. Our last trip to Oregon was when I was still pregnant with Emily, so this was her first time meeting her youngest great granddaughter. My aunt tried to prepare me for what it may be like when we go to see her. Her health has deteriorated significantly since our last visit two years ago. Sometimes when I talk to her on the phone she gets confused and forgets who she's talking to, but God blessed us this visit with a lucid Grandma. We took her to dinner and spent an afternoon visiting her in her home. The girls colored pictures for her and Braden brought "sorry" to play. It was a precious time. Now just a couple weeks later, my grandma has been hospitalized three times since our visit. She's having trouble with her heart. I don't know very many details, but they did put in a pacemaker which helped some of her issues, but not all of her health problems have been resolved. Last I heard she's still in the hospital with an elevated heart enzyme. I'm not exactly sure what that means other than that her heart is not happy. My grandma loves the Lord and misses being among God's people. She was so active in serving her church until now. I don't know how much time she has left here. Only God knows, but I do know that when her days here are completed, she will go home. She will no longer suffer with a frail body that can't do all it once could. Please pray for my grandma. Whether she has years ahead of her or a much shorter time, pray that she would finish the race God has placed before her. That He would be her constant companion, comfort in her suffering, and her hope. Thank you dear friends.

We start 'em young

A few of you have asked me what I do with Emily when the others doing their schoolwork. She has claimed one of Braden's old math workbooks and Leilani's old phonics book and she colors in her "Emily books".

First Day of School

This is Leilani on her first day of third grade. This will be her first year using Switched on School House. It has taken some getting used to, but she loves to play the spelling games and seems to be getting the hang of doing her work on the computer most of the time. Typing is still a slow and painstaking process, but that will improve in time. She's a diligent worker.
This is Melanie on her first day of fourth grade. It's Melanie's second year with this curriculum, and she absolutely loves it! Her favorite subject this year is Spanish. She's been working ahead on her own time early in the morning and late at night, and she's already finished with the first unit!
This is my little Kindergartener. He loves to learn. I'm sure he will keep me on my toes trying to keep up with him! He likes school, but he likes recess just as much! This year will be challenging (for me) if the first week is any indication of what's to come. I do treasure this time with my sweet babes, but boy-oh-boy do I feel like I'm being pulled in ten different directions at once! Pray for me :)

Swimming

As I'm sure many of you know, the pool here in town was not available this summer for the swim team or the community to use. It has undergone a long overdue renovation which will mean nice new facilities for next summer, but for this summer, it has meant driving out of town for my little fishies to swim. We joined the Antioch Delta Skimmers this year. It was a blessing that Ron could come after work on Wednesday night to see the kids swim in meets. He's not able to be off for the Sharks' Saturday morning meets. All the meets were much closer to home than the Sharks' meets, but it did mean driving over the bridge everyday for practice. The kids made some good friends and had a lot of fun! Braden even graduated up from the polywog group to swim with the 6 and unders for the second half of the season. Some of the friends we swam with have joined us for fall swimming. We are swimming with the Brentwood Seawolves this fall season. Again this means crossing the bridge almost daily, but it is a great opportunity for the kids to have practice time in the water under the instruction of excellent coaches. It is almost daily P.E., and they love it! We look forward to swimming with our friends here in town next summer, but we'll see our skimmer friends at ECI next summer.

Happy Birthday Braden!

My sweet little boy turned 5 last week! To celebrate, Ron and I took the kids and a few of our friends to a fun little water park in Brentwood. It was such a perfect day! Our unseasonably cool summer warmed up to make playing in the cool water a welcome treat. The little boys all played together like they'd been friends forever, even though some had just met eachother and some hadn't seen eachother in about a year. All the little 5-year-olds were too short to ride the water slides, but once they started playing in the pool, they didn't seem to care at all. The older siblings had fun on the slides and playing in the diving pool. A great time was had by all. We are so grateful for the five years God has blessed us with this precious son. We are thankful for his tender heart, his affection and fun! We are thankful for good friends who joined us in celebrating his young life.